The War We Lost and the Revolution Yet to Come

Abstract

This essay offers a vision for higher education based on two convergent ideas: (a) that progressives lost the war on education by failing to adequately engage, much less counter, the existing right-wing narrative; and (b) this narrative loss opens the possibility of a creative revolution capable of transforming education. I forward the idea that what is needed in this bleak time of political fear and economic austerity is a rethinking, and reworking, of the role of education and learning through new collaborations, cooperation, and communication between and among academics and practitioners. I offer some existing models of programs modeled on this rethinking, each one designed to address real-world problems and community challenges. I conclude by suggesting that such a creative revolution is not only practical but also perhaps offers us the only real hope for higher education in the foreseeable future.