TIF was created to serve undergraduates at one university, but there is no reason in principle why the model cannot be adopted by graduate and professional schools, or by high schools, or by consortia of colleges and universities. Imagine, for example, a forum series explicitly designed for graduate students and faculty on the idea of objectivity in the human sciences, offered at a time when several different classes might converge in one auditorium to wrestle with this highly controversial issue. Imagine another forum series for the high schools on issues specifically tailored to teenagers and featuring, perhaps for the first time, some of their teachers in public but civil disagreement. And picture as well the possibilities of colleges and universities in a given locale, banding together to produce TIF-like events of common interest to them all at rotating sites, but with opportunities for call-ins from each. Here is a way to weld local Higher Eds together for something other than competitive sports.
TIF was created to serve undergraduates at one university, but there is no reason in principle why the model cannot be adopted by graduate and professional schools, or by high schools, or by consortia of colleges and universities. Imagine, for example, a forum series explicitly designed for graduate students and faculty on the idea of objectivity in the human sciences, offered at a time when several different classes might converge in one auditorium to wrestle with this highly controversial issue. Imagine another forum series for the high schools on issues specifically tailored to teenagers and featuring, perhaps for the first time, some of their teachers in public but civil disagreement. And picture as well the possibilities of colleges and universities in a given locale, banding together to produce TIF-like events of common interest to them all at rotating sites, but with opportunities for call-ins from each. Here is a way to weld local Higher Eds together for something other than competitive sports.