Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Is Rhodes Campus Capitalist or Communist?

So in thinking about capitalist systems versus communist systems today in class, I began to wonder which of these we would use to characterize student life on campus at Rhodes. Obviously the college runs on an administrative level as a business, however are the concepts by which we live as a community not essentially communist in nature? Of course, as we noted in class, this is true to an extent of all groups in relationship, but a question was raised as to the ability of this to work on a larger scale.
On this scale, then, are our essentially communist practices by which we live as a student community successful?
The example that I am thinking of specifically is the honor code. We are all bound to uphold the values outlined in the honor code for our benefit but more so for the benefit of the community at large. When thinking of the work we are asked to do as students, this too falls into a more Marxist ideal than it does a capitalist one. Ideally the higher education experience is one that allows you to have a good relationship with your work and the products of that labor-- namely any research or intellectual material that you produce while working as a student. If you are committing to the nature of higher education, then you should not feel a disconnect between your work and your own humanity, your species, or from other human beings. The philosophy behind colleges and universities where young minds live in community together is to avoid precisely that-- by living in an academic community, you are engaging with other workers like you as opposed to pulling away.
I am sure an argument could be made that our student community is more capitalist, this is just my two cents on the role of the common good and community at Rhodes.

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