By KAI HAMMERMEISTER [Chronicle of Higher Education] – Thomas Jefferson attempted a student-driven model for his University of Virginia but quickly abandoned it. And, of course, Italy and Spain themselves have long since replaced student governance with state control. Yet it is [José Ortega y Gasset’s] intention to again place the student at the center of the university and thus to renew this Italo-Spanish contribution to the discourse and practice of higher education.

Ortega derives his student-centered model from the economic principle of scarcity that defines a good. Only because the lifetimes of students are limited is it necessary to make decisions about the content and periodization of education. The starting point for all educational decisions must, therefore, be the capacity of the student to learn, he argues, not the available knowledge at large nor the research specialities of the professoriate.

In fact, the students themselves should once more take charge of the curriculum and all other aspects of university life except for the research. Professors are relegated to a supporting role. “Put the students in charge of the house,” he wrote, “and let the student body constitute the body of the institution, complemented by the faculties of professors.”

We can infer that, for Ortega, it is the economic principle that leads students to the wisest choice regarding the curriculum.

Continued at The Chronicle of Higher Education | More Chronicle & Notices.