End of professionalism, a new dark age?
My reflection on this week’s reading led me to an idea that I have continually wrestled with and have found to be a source of constant frustration. I am reminded of an argument I encountered in in reading “Closing of the American Mind” by Alan Bloom. The thrust of the argument is that students are being indoctrinated in to a religion of acceptance and openness as oppose to being taught to think critically and make value judgments by teachers and professors especially in higher education. I find this relates to Shirky because it seems to me that when we lose professionalism we lose an identity. Professionalism has come to mean some much more than those characteristics Shirky attributes to it. Professionalism at least to me means maintaining decorum being tough yet firm in one’s resolve of problems and conflict and above all taking responsibility and ownership of your thoughts, insights, and observations. When publishing became widely dispersed and as technical as a few clicks of the mouse society lost its boldness preferring to hide under the guise of ambiguity and obscurity.
