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Honors In Practice (Theory): A Bourdieusian Perspective On The Professionalization Of Honors, K. Patrick Fazioli
Honors In Practice (Theory): A Bourdieusian Perspective On The Professionalization Of Honors, K. Patrick Fazioli
Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive
Patricia J . Smith’s essay on the professionalization of honors advances several original and provocative arguments that deserve serious consideration. Although Smith makes a plausible case that honors has fulfilled at least three of Theodore Caplow’s four stages of professionalization, a closer reading of this text reveals that the developments identified by Smith fail to satisfy the basic functions that each stage serves on the path toward professionalism. This essay argues that honors has little incentive to become a distinct profession because much of its highly skilled workforce enjoys the protection of occupational closure as college faculty and administrators. The …
Swan Song, Joan Digby
Swan Song, Joan Digby
Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive
Patricia J . Smith’s argument for professionalism based on Caplow’s outdated model is inappropriate for honors administration. The steps outlined are misleading, and the use of the perennially controversial Basic Characteristics as a prescription for professionalizing honors is historically inaccurate and has no place in framing the future of honors education, which needs to remain individual and idiosyncratic to institutions. Professionalization would move honors toward a business model that is antithetical to the spirit of honors.