ABC UNIVERSITY: Some thoughts about the Commercialization of Education

	Welcome to ABC University –
	a great place to get a manufactured degree
	with little effort but lots of money.

	After receiving your bank deposit
	and conducting a few perfunctory tests
	you'll receive a student number
	and nominal syllabus.

	Lessons are in sterile, stuffy rooms
	by undistinguished staff unclear what to do.

	Semester finals consist of hazy, multiple-choice mazes
	full of ambiguity 'n error –
	but hey, we churn out grades!

	We're proud of our university's rich heritage –
	and especially our wealthy alumni
	who protect the status quo
	insuring that
	a fixed quota of bodies pass through our doors
	'n commercialism thrives.


Melissa: Is the author attempting satire?

Tim:     (shrugging his shoulders) Who knows? Aren't the words of most poets indecipherable?

Liao:    (nodding) For sure. However, doesn't it seem that the majority schools are
         primarily concerned with money making?

Satoru:  Perhaps so, which is unfortunate since it taints the whole notion of "education."

Liao:    There's a bit of "ABC University" in every university – the issue is a matter of degree.


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from _Crassroom Voices - Poetry, Art, & Dialogs about Education_ by T Newfields
SUMMARY: A poem and dialog about educational exploitation and sham universities
KEYWORDS: degree mills, edu-exploitation, sham universities, fake universities

Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955)
Begun: 1996 in Shizuoka, Japan  / Finished: 2023 in Yokohama, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted

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TRANSLATIONS

ESPAÑOL   https://www.tnewfields.info/es/abcuni.htm
FRANÇAIS  https://www.tnewfields.info/fr/uniabc.htm
NIHONGO   https://www.tnewfields.info/jp/abcdai.htm