DHIANDRA VERDINE AMANDANISA

381721 English Essay

Theme: Academic Freedom/Kebebasan Akademik

ACADEMIC FREEDOM AS A RESULT OF MODERNISATION

DEVELOPMENT AS A CONQUERER OF CAPITALISM IN
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to
hear.” -George Orwell

The concept of academic freedom is a result of a modernisation development. Its exercise is

usually considered in terms of the questioning of received wisdom within a discipline; and
most non-academicians might wonder it is purposely being concerned and presume that we
demand privilege on purpose. It establishes the right of academicians to remain true to their
pedagogical philosophy, freedom of speech and intellectual commitments. It preserves the
savant integrity of educational system and thus serves the public good.

Academic freedom provides academicians the right to express their views — in speech,
writing, and through electronic communication, both on and off campus — without fear of
sanction, unless the manner of expression substantially impairs the rights of others or, in the
case of faculty members, those views demonstrate that they are professionally ignorant,
incompetent, or dishonest with regard to their discipline or fields of expertise. According to
the “liberty theory”, proposed by some legal scholars, freedom of speech - counted as part of
academic is an essential part of the liberty of every person, who pursues an individual self-
determination and self-realization (Cox, 1981).

“Whatever you say, say nothing”, have disguisedly, cued and/or signaled by many deans,
teachers in several education centers dissenting thought and expression to become secular
blasphemies. However, if thought manifests its autonomy precisely by the extent that it
questions received wisdom, it follows that political incarceration is but the extreme form of a
model that is elsewhere applied with the greater subtleties of managerial fundamentalism.
Though briefly interrupting an invited speaker may be compatible with academic freedom,
actually preventing a talk or a performance from continuing is not. freedom does not give
students or faculty the right to ignore college or university regulations, though it does give
faculty and students the right to criticize regulations they believe are unfair.

In other essence, theoretical ground to support the freedom of speech is called “tolerance
theory” that particulary holds the ability to teach and promote tolerance, that is one of the
most crucial factors of freedom of speech (Cox, 1981). From this point of view, freedom of
speech itself excludes any type of intolerance, which somehow appears in a threatening form.
The “tolerance theory” implies self-restraint, even those that we may personally dislike or
hate. The “tolerance theory” provides a wider context for exercising tolerance in a conflict-
ridden democratic society.

Modernisation and reform are predicated on the belief that everything can and must be
organised: faculty, students, research, learning, debate, teaching by details. The possibilities
for participation in democratic change are denied, because everything, including dissent, is
managed and circumscribed to keep existing authority in power. Needless to add yet to
conquer the argument, this is presumably a form of capitalism that has been brought in
educational system.

Academic freedom must be sustained for democracy to survive the emergent

authoritarianisms to abolish the exploitation of proletariat by the bourgeosie of the system.
The dignity of thinking might just rather be more crucial; to keep on the right track that not
obtusely trapped by economic profiteering.

SITASI
Docherty, T. 2014. Thomas Docherty on Academic Freedom, Times Higher Education,
viewed on 11 August 2015 from https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/thomas-
docherty-on-academic-freedom/2017268.article?page=0%2C0

Nelson, Cary. 2013. Defining Academic Freedom, Higher Education, viewed on 11 August
2015 from https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/12/21/nelson_on_academic_freedom