David Bartholomae: Inventing the University

Inventing the University, written by David Bartholomae has a way of upsetting nearly every college student who reads it. His words make the average student feel fairly helpless in this academic world full of such high expectations and forced (faked) authority. In this article, he constantly reiterates that the university invents the voice every student must adopt in order to succeed. He states that every student who experiences a higher education must fake authority in order to flourish in their field and succeed in the university setting.

Every major and every field of expertise has a designated voice, full of authority and knowledge; which the university expects students, who are far from knowledgable in their field, to adopt. In short, the students must try to appear as though they are a highly experienced member of their field in order to succeed, and must take on the voice that is determined by the University and set as a standard for all students. In this process set by the University itself, students tend to lose a level of individualism and creativity.

In this world that is overly focused on faked intelligence and following the standard set for all students, uniqueness is frowned upon, and conformity is a must. This is why I feel that Inventing the University is highly detrimental to the educational community and banishes students backwards in their education rather than propelling them forward. Faking expertise does not contribute to the learning experience of each student; it simply forces them to learn that they must fake intelligence and confidence in their field, while still leaving them clueless to the actual facts they are required to learn.

Inventing the university is not a stepping stone on the road to success and authority in one's field, rather it is a flame thrower, destroying all individuality and pressuring the student to fake a farther knowledge that they had thusforth obtained. This standard set by the University forces students to live in a "make-believe" world in which they are all highly experienced experts, and the highest authority known in their field. It is detrimental to the educational community and forces a conformity among students that frowns upon individuality and creativity in one's work, especially writing. In my opinion, Inventing the University is something that students should ignore, overcome, and use only in extrenuating circumstances, it is the student that should master education and the university, not the other way around.