Monday, November 4, 2013

Literature Review Blog #1

Tomar, Dave. The Shadow Scholar. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Kindle Edition.

A Rutgers graduate himself, Dave Tomar tells us about his time at the State University of New Jersey and how he helped students cheat their way through college. Having an overall negative experience while studying at Rutgers, Tomar discusses his thoughts and feelings about in institution that in his mind is "callous, indifferent, infuriating, and inconsiderate world" (location 455).

Key Terms and Quotes: 
"
They have this really cute thing at Rutgers University called the RU Screw" (location 472).


"
It’s like a syndrome, a catchall diagnosis for any number of things that are likely to go wrong over the course of one’s time at the school owing to the incompetence, negligence, and bureaucratic inefficiency of the university and its personnel, as well as their very genuine indifference toward the student body. I spent more time at college trying to repair scheduling errors, attempting to navigate the endless maze of automated phone systems, standing in lines, filling out forms, haggling with Student Services..." (location 472).

"...heartless bureaucratic soldiers..." (location 542)
Having his own personal experiences at Rutgers and multiple first hand experiences with the famous "RU Screw," which are outlined in his book,
Tomar has an updated and more current outlook on what goes on at this university.


1 comment:

  1. This is a great source. But you really need to do a close reading of his chapter on the RU Screw, especially in terms of how he moves from talking about the problem of bureaucracy to the problem of privatization -- so that it feels like it is not so much that the state apparatus is accidentally crushing students but that the apparatus is designed to turn the screws on students and get them to give the University more money . See for instance how he discusses how much money Parking makes for the school.

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