“The US government is depriving universities of billions in federal funding…”
ROBIN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
In 1907, American historian Henry Adams first began distributing his memoirs, which became a hit in 1919: Education of Henry Adams. Given Adams's illustrious family—both his grandfather and great-grandfather were presidents—one might expect this to be a self-congratulatory tale of the wonders of American education.
Instead, he inspired his audience to make a bold statement that everything Adams was taught in 19th-century schools was useless. Steeped in religious studies and the classics, he was ill-prepared for the world of mass electrification and the automobile. If education was supposed to prepare him for the future, he argued, it had failed.
Almost 120 years later, Adams's criticism is again relevant, especially in the United States. New technologies are upending traditional ways of teaching students. However, the problem is not only the increase in the number of artificial intelligence models. It is also ideological. The US government is depriving universities of billions in federal funds. financing while this requires greater control over curriculum and admissions. The future of education is in chaos, but it is not dying; it changes to suit the moment.
I thought about Adams as I sat down to take my first college class in more than two decades. Race, Media and International Relations is taught by a journalist and professor of international studies. Karen Attia. In 2024, Attiyah covered politics on Washington Post and taught international relations at Columbia University in New York. But at the beginning of this year Colombia unceremoniously canceled her courses. A few months later Attiya says she was fired from the Post due to social media posts about racism and right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. At the time, the newspaper refused to comment on Attia's dismissal.
But, according to Attia: “This is not the time for media literacy or historical knowledge to be hostage to institutions that have bowed to authoritarianism and fear.” So she turned her course at Columbia into what she called “Resistance Summer School“, which she will broadcast live to anyone who pays the tuition. Five hundred students arrived within 48 hours and the waiting list was huge. She is now teaching two courses this fall, including mine.
In many ways, Attia's classes are reminiscent of courses I took in college over 25 years ago. Seated at the table, Attiyah lectures on topics such as how colonial newspapers in the 1600s described wars with indigenous peoples in the colonies and why the media failed to cover Japan's proposal for racial equality in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. By weaving together the history of American media and international race relations, Attiyah taught me much that I never knew, despite working as a journalist and teaching media studies from time to time my entire adult life. I feel like I'm back in college, in the best sense of the word.
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I fear for academic institutions, but not for the future of education. The pursuit of knowledge cannot be stopped
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Attia's no-nonsense approach contrasts sharply with that of other professors who post their work online. Philosopher's pipePhilosopher Abigail Thorne's long-running lecture series on YouTube teaches modern philosophy through effects, costumes and witty scripts. But Thorne's goal is the same as Attia's: she wants to make education as accessible to the public as possible and question authority without academic restrictions.
Attia and Thorne follow in the footsteps of scholar and activist Stuart Hall. After teaching cultural studies at the University of Birmingham (UK) in the 1960s and 70s, he wanted to break out of his ivory tower and educate the British public about racism in the media. So in 1979 he co-wrote and presented a documentary for the BBC called It's not half-racist, mom.about racial bias in news and TV shows about black immigrants.
When the public cannot access higher education, Hall suggested, then higher education should become accessible to the public. And this is exactly what teachers are doing now. Some teach for free, relying on crowdfunding; others, like Attiyah, use a subscription model. Either way, they find ways to learn.
But what about students who don't want to stare at a screen for hours? Now a new movement is in the works to reach these students as well. Hacker and creator spaces—community centers for the study of science and technology—are springing up all over the world. Participants can take classes on everything from electronics to 3D printing and welding.
As Adams argued, education should prepare us for what comes next. And I believe that a world is coming in which academic freedom exists only outside of academia. I fear for the future of academic institutions, but not for the future of education. As long as we support our renegade professors and hackerspace educators, the search for knowledge will never stop.
Annaly's week
What am I reading
Keeper of magical things Julie Leong, a cozy fantasy about archivist magicians.
What am I watching
Frankenhooker, greatest adaptation Frankenstein ever made.
What am I working on
Doing homework for Karen Attia's class!
Annalee Newitz science journalist and writer. Their latest book Automatic noodles. They are co-hosts of a Hugo Award-winning podcast. Our opinions are correct. You can follow them @annaleen and their website techsploitation.com
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