For part of my sabbatical project, I'm taking three project management courses through Metropoitan State University in St. Paul. Much of project management involves making lists. You make lists of risks to a project, lists of requirements for a project, list of resources, and stakeholders, and budget, and scope. Project management attempts to render projects into a recipes, that if followed, will yield successful projects that meet the expectations of clients. This knowledge will be useful to me as I help manage a teaching project on food, floods, and rivers, and to help manager internal college projects, such as committees.
That said, in February 2025, I'm struggling to think about how I could talk to students about project management, or any other topic that relies on evidence-based thinking. Part of what I'm selling as a teacher is "learn this information, it will help you make better choices towards a better life for you and those your care about."
But all this is based on living in a reality where actions and knowledge have consequences. One of many problems with the fascism we are experiencing today is that it over-rides all other values, including democracy, capitalism, religious faith, community, or science. While I'm concerned about the illegal financial cuts to institutions, I'm as worried about the crisis-of-faith fascism encourages. If the only thing that matters is power, then people will respond to that reality. Why study project management, if the only factor in business is if the fascist leader likes you?
All the project management training, or any training in the world, won't help if the fascist elites commander the wealth of Americans for themselves. At one point, if ever do actual conservatives (not fascists, but those who want to conserve previous generation values of faith, democracy, science) say no? And how do I teach historical thinking to students who are witnessing the death of their future?
Other education theorists who lived through encroaching and galloping fascism have considered this idea, I'm sure. But I teach this fall, so I'm wrestling with it now.
