Popular Culture and High Culture: An Application
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In his book, Popular Culture and High Culture: An Analysis and Evaluation of Taste, Herbert J. Gans distinguishes between producers and consumers of high and popular culture based on the disparities of educational attributes and class. Applied to the professional field of education in which tenured professors are representative of high culture and associate and/or adjunct professors are representative of popular culture, the disparity between the two groups in terms of both criteria is subtle (xv). In fact, tenure and associate professors who are equally educated are distinguished chiefly by tenure. Both tenure and associate professors have undergone four to eight years of graduate studies. However, tenured professors had also survived three to seven years of probation in tenure-track positions and undergone assessments and annual evaluations of their overall performance in teaching, research and relationships with their peers. Finally, they had also passed the challenging tenure review in which their performance was scrutinized by the department chair, dean, college provost, president and outside faculty. Tenured professors have thus demonstrated their commitment to their field of study and the teaching of their students throughout their academic career. Unlike associate professors, tenured professors have the freedom to pursue their academic work without fearing the consequences of dismissal (Scheuerman 66). Because of their protection from the manipulation an
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s the power to suppress academic activities (Boorstin). With excessive supervision and control, creativity and independence will be adversely affected. The ability of tenured professors to contradict dominant or popular ideologies in their quest for knowledge lies at the heart of their role to preserve high culture that does not serve popular or powerful interests (Allen 84).
Furthermore, without the rigorous evaluation process that occurs through the tenure system, potential students and their parents are unable to determine whether universities truly have high quality instructors. As Gans indicates in his book, one of the criticisms of the popular culture is the overall decrease in the quality of society (55). The current policy of employing adjunct faculty and relying on non-tenure associate professors to reduce costs has certainly undermined the quality of academic standards. Part-time faculty members that are not given any college resources such as office space and opportunities to interact with their peers cannot be expected to achieve high academic standards. Furthermore, these part-time or temporary faculty members who do not have the prospect of obtaining tenure will be distracted by the need to look for work in
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Approximate Word count = 1669
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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