{"id":6959,"date":"2015-09-01T10:35:39","date_gmt":"2015-09-01T08:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/2015\/09\/01\/we-moeten-bildung-niet-uit-het-oog-verliezen\/?lang=en"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:23","slug":"we-moeten-bildung-niet-uit-het-oog-verliezen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2015\/09\/01\/we-moeten-bildung-niet-uit-het-oog-verliezen\/","title":{"rendered":"Beatrice de Graaf: \u2018We must not lose sight of Bildung\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMichelle Muus<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

We must safeguard the Bildung <\/em>model as the University\u2019s strategy and shield it from the dubious aspects of a more economic approach to science. That is the most important message that guest speaker, Beatrice de Graaf, passed on to those present at the Opening of the Academic Year on Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

De Graaf, historian and co-chair of the Dutch National Research Agenda, summarised two possible stories about the University during her lecture. On the one hand there is a utilitarian approach, where science is judged on \u2018social usefulness\u2019. \u201cScience and scientists are here to make money and to increase GDP. Or, in a more benevolent version of the same tale, they are expected to solve the problems of humankind: produce more and healthier food, cure cancer, fight climate change, increase sustainability and help to achieve the millennium development goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bildung ideal under pressure<\/h3>

On the other hand we can view the University within the Humboldtian ideal of Bildung<\/em>. \u201cIn this story, the university is a place where norms, values, ethics and ideals are developed, cultivated and discussed between students and teachers.\u201d It is a story to which Jet Bussemaker, Minister of Education, Culture and Science, likes to refer.<\/p>\n

But it is also a story that is coming increasingly under pressure, said De Graaf. \u201cUtilitarianism in its crude economistic form is becoming the dominant discourse, in society as well as in academia. Scholars and universities are being pushed to the assembly line, pressed to produce preconceived eggs.\u201d Both models are valuable, thinks De Graaf, and should be protected in order to preserve the diversity of the academic community.<\/p>\n

Restoring the balance<\/h3>

We have to restore the balance between the two strategies, argued De Graaf. First and foremost this requires autonomy. \u201cAcademic life cannot be regulated from above. Scholars do not stand in an orderly line \u2013 not in real life, and not in history. Science is never tidy, unified or simple.\u201d We have not yet achieved freedom for scholars.<\/p>\n

De Graaf ended her lecture with a number of specific recommendations. For example, she believes that more money is necessary to inspire young talent and to promote diversity and surprise without presorting and to prevent the application for a research subsidy from becoming even more of a lottery. She calls for more places for doctoral candidates outside large-scale European or NWO-programmes, and recognition for both researchers and lecturers, media personalities and supporting staff.<\/p>\n

And yes, also politicians, managers and captains of industry deserve a place at the university, \u2018allowing them to contribute to lectures or to enjoy a research internship within research groups or laboratories \u2013 in order to demonstrate the value of the Bildung<\/em> model from within\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\t

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