Mellon [7] identified five fear generators that can affect one’s academic freedoms: 1. Perfectionism, 2. Pugilism, 3. Anti/Intellectualism, 4. Hierarchism, and 5.Short-termism. This presentation will focus on the specific fear generator of“short-termism” in academia. Using a framework established by Commanger [1],this presentation will begin with the operationalization of “Academic Freedom” andits importance to inquiry, teaching, and service of educators [3]. After orienting theattendees on “shot-termism,” the speaker will continue with current examples ofhow fear has been generated in educators due to the abdication of long-term goalsand objectives. In particular, the speaker will include a history of “tenure” [6]within education and how subversion of tenure is directly linked to experiencing fearof one’s academic freedoms or faculty’s lehrfreiheit. Tenure was introduced as away to protect the academic freedoms of education faculty. In particular, once afaculty member demonstrated expertise in teaching/learning, service to the academy,and inquiry, they were rewarded with tenure in order to preserve their freedomsfrom persecution. Faculty cannot be free of fear if faculty are concerned aboutcontinued employment. Next, this presentation will explore how students experiencefear from “short-termism” and their academic freedoms (lernfreiheit) are affected.Fear is generated in students from short-term goals that revolve around curriculaand academic assignments [2] and in the form of high stakes exams that have nolong-term value [5]. Schools and colleges, however, continue to perpetuate fearamongst their students with continued and sustained involvement in short-termprograms and testing thereby affecting students’ lernfreiheit. This presenter willsummarize how short-termism continues to generate fear that limits the freedoms ofboth students and educators. After time for open discussion, the presenter will endby posing the critical questions: 1) how does a sustained focus on short-termismgenerate fear in students and faculty thereby limiting their academic freedoms?And, 2) How can we begin to reduce short-termism fears in education?

Speaker: Brett J. Holt

Published in: London International Conference on Education (LICE-2023)

• Date of Conference: 13-15 November 2023
• DOI: 10.20533/LICE.2023.0002
• ISBN: 978-1-913572-66-2
• Conference Location: St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK