Facilitating university education: A view from the North

Abstract

In this small essay, I will reflect on Michael Bérubé and Jennifer Ruth's arguments on the decline of educational professionalism in the United States. The purpose is to consider this loss of professionalism, and I will consider it in light of the arts and humanities in the Danish educational debate. Two reflections are presented: first, the customer relation is reversed in a Scandinavian context where students are politically demanded products rather than informed customers. This implies that universities' output serve political agendas. Second, I suggest that the Scandinavian conception of equality in welfare might entail an inexpedient side-effect when it comes to education. Equality becomes alignment rather than educative edification of individual and, in consequence, communal autonomy. This jeopardises the historically fruitful role of the Scandinavian university – and ultimately caters to a shift from edification to serving interests that are beyond the professional heart of arts and humanities in higher education.