Category: Corporate World (Page 13 of 13)

These are posts on the corporate world from the blog Base and Superstructure. The corporate world is complex. It’s confusing to anyone not involved. Corporate life has its own characteristic forms, language, jargon, and mannerisms. Neoliberalism structures our politics and thought, and so this is also a major focus of these posts. The non-profit corporate sector is its own distinct mini-world. And, in particular, spending significant time involved in corporate life engenders a special form of ennui. All of these subtopics feed off of one another. Each is critical to thinking about corporate life and its role in the United States.

Standardized Testing: Progressive or Not?

February 25, 2019 / baseblogger

About a year ago, Freddie deBoer wrote what he called the ‘progressive case‘ for the SAT. Mostly he used the SAT as a convenient stand-in for standardized testing in its American form.

DeBoer’s take on this was provocative and surprising. He took some flak. The general “left” line has been against standardized testing. And it has become one of several points at which liberals and leftists depart: the liberal as the technocratic tester, set against the leftist as the advocate for a free and democratic classroom sans test.

I find this all rather oversimplified. Here I’ll evaluate both deBoer’s argument in favor of a ‘progressive’ view of standardized testing and leftist arguments in favor of a ‘regressive’ view of standardized testing.

I find both arguments lacking.
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intellectuals invisible — Source: william (https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2387488)

The Invisibility of Intellectuals

February 18, 2019 / baseblogger

Fifty-two years ago, Noam Chomsky published an article in the New York Review of Books on the responsibility of intellectuals. He rebuked intellectuals for the way they supported and justified the Vietnam War. And that they did so despite having the social privilege and influence to push American power in different directions.

With respect to the responsibility of intellectuals, today we live in a different world. I’ll argue that it’s invisibility that defines the intellectual now. Whether intellectuals defend and justify American atrocities is, in a way, beside the point. Because American power no longer relies on intellectuals in the ways it once did.

From there, I’ll sketch some thoughts about how to address this new world.

Leaving Academia: A Guide

February 4, 2019 / baseblogger

Source: Dnalor 01 (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Dnalor_01)

Some of you probably know I have some experience with leaving academia. It’s a gradual process. I started having doubts about an academic career around 2010 or 2011. When I went on the job market in 2011 and 2012, I searched both academic and non-academic jobs.

I landed a non-academic job in early 2013. For a few years, I taught-part time as a Visiting Assistant Professor while working a non-academic job. My last paycheck from a university was in January 2016, and my most recent academic publication (which I’ve summarized) was in the summer of 2016.

So that’s my basic leaving academia narrative. I’ve also done a couple of interviews.

Andrew Yang on Universal Basic Income

October 15, 2018 / baseblogger

President Barack Obama meets with Champions of Change alumni in the Map Room of the White House, April 26, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Andrew Yang is running for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.

Andrew Yang is not going to win the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.

I guess I could leave it at that. But that’s no fun. Yang is drawing some media attention because he’s a Silicon Valley (note: “entrepreneurial/tech/startup industry”) guy who has too much time and money. And so he’s visiting the early caucus and primary states.

Yang’s background is in tech, as I noted. He was most recently the CEO of Venture for America, which connects young people with venture capitalists. Sometimes with sexy results. Previously he was a CEO in the standardized test prep industry.

But, you know, enough about Andrew Yang for now. I want to talk about his platform. His single issue platform. Because his single issue is universal basic income, the topic of my previous post.

Yang really loves UBI, and his proposal is rather detailed. He’s running as a Democrat, and he’s claiming some generic leftist cred. But, as any good tech utopian, Yang is running in the ‘post-ideological‘ lane.

As with everyone else, Yang has gotten around to writing a book. It’s about UBI, and it’s called The War on Normal People.

I’m going to evaluate Yang’s UBI proposal by the standards I laid out for a good leftist universal basic income. Is Yang’s proposal universal? Is it basic? Finally, is it feasible as a leftist plan?

Icebreaker Speech

August 1, 2018 / baseblogger

This post is a speech I gave about a year ago as a part of a local Toastmasters group. It’s an introduction to, well, myself. They call it an Icebreaker speech.

For anyone unfamiliar, Toastmasters is an organization for developing and promoting public speaking skills. The first speech you give as a part of the organization is an ‘Icebreaker,’ or an introduction of yourself to the group.

I’ve made some light edits to the icebreaker speech. This includes light copy editing, updating of dates (the speech is about a year old), and minor tinkering to fit the change from spoken to written format.

Category: Corporate World (Page 13 of 13)

Standardized Testing: Progressive or Not?

The Invisibility of Intellectuals

Leaving Academia: A Guide

Andrew Yang on Universal Basic Income

Icebreaker Speech

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