Abstract:
The economic potential of postpositivist knowledge, as related to higher education research, disempowers both non-positivist professors and their students. Biased favoritism is evident among postpositivist and non-positivist students competing in symposiums, which leads to stratification and gender inequality among the professoriate as a communal body of knowledge (Subramaniam,Perrucci, & Whitlock,2014). These cultural phenomena have been further exacerbated by decreased federal and state funding for higher education (Lambert, 2014; Ortuno, 2018). To increase institutional funding and prestige, senior-level staff and symposium judges encourage postpositivist research, as it has the potential to harness the greatest capital and prestige for the institution; regardless of subpar graduation rates produced by the institution (Lambert, 2014; Ortuno, 2018).
Stratification in and among classrooms is evident in numerous forms; for example: (1)decreased tenured faculty positions, which are replaced with lecturers who teach larger classrooms and online classes, receive significantly less pay and benefits, and in some cases, are prohibited from engaging in student research; (2) increased tuition fees and student enrollment; regardless of subpar postpositivist retention and graduation rates (Ortuno, 2018); and (3) increased institutional funding for both postpositivist professors and their students, while decreased institutional funding for both non-positivist professors and their students perpetuates the disempowerment and stratification of non-positivist professors and their students; all under the premise of altruistic representation. |
