The augury of pop culture.

A basic premise of our society is that the young know a truth everyone else ignores at their own peril. The triumph of the sixties and rock music was so complete that even the hoariest conservative knows not to get caught out grumbling about “those kids and their music,” and succession of styles, punk, hip-hop, have been taken seriously by many who care not a wit about its content, simply because they do not want to miss out on the secrets they may reveal.

Even when youth culture is steered by studios, it presents its message always in the guise of subversion that might overthrow the uptight adults. This is not just cynical manipulation, it is also the real expectation that the tastes of the young do represent the future, that somewhere beyond the maneuverings of film-makers and recording executives there still remains a kernel of truth. If all the girls want to see Twilight just as they once all wanted to see Titanic, they are acting according to some principle that augurs the future.

The truth of teen tastes is easily equated with the invisible hand of the market. Even universities now run on this principle, what the young want represents truth and the future.

There are of course other modes of education: wherein the young receive knowledge garnered from the past or from those who have studied the world longer. The market approach to education means that universities teach what students want, as opposed to students learn what universities teach. The difference is crucial, for it shifts the presumption of knowledge onto the students.

Those who learn already know something the professors have forgotten. They know what courses matter, they already know how to organize an education.

According to this Liberal thinking, the function of the university is learn from its students, so that they can teach what the students already know they need to learn. This is the implicit rule behind so many university decisions.

If students don’t enroll in a class, then it must not be important. If a department does not have many majors, then it must not deserve to continue. Never mind that the subject may be difficult.

If they do not come, then we will dismantle the discipline.