Academia needs to stop gatekeeping knowledge!

When we look at academia some people may think that it's inclusive at first look. But when you dive deeper into academia and spend more time in the system it becomes clear that a lot of knowledge that is a part of academia is gatekept. What I mean by this is that unless you either have money to get around paywalls or to go to a university then accessing any of the knowledge that the academy can give you will not be available without money. This creates a divide within social classes because poor folks are less likely to go to college and get a degree. And without a degree, people are much less likely to have access to the knowledge that academia offers. Many academic journals won't give you access to academic papers without attending a university or paying a subscription fee which I feel shouldn’t be the case since knowledge should be free and have free access.

While the concept of the academy employing professors and so they want only professors to have access to this knowledge is very pigheaded. As well as some professors don’t even have access to certain academic journals just the ones your specific university has access to. I may be preaching to the choir when I say this but textbooks that are needed for classes shouldn't be hundreds of dollars so I think I can speak for other students as well when I say that the professors who look for cheaper options are much appreciated.

Philosophy is a discipline that there is always new information and theories being created and argued about so many philosophy majors when they graduate find it difficult to keep up with the current work that philosophers are working on this is mainly because of gatekeeping. Books from famous philosophers and new theories are usually quite pricey and it's usually hard to find out about what current philosophers are working on. For me, there are many books I wish I had the money to purchase but just am unable to but sometimes if you want a book or paper try to email the professor directly and they may be nice enough to send it to you.

This gatekeeping could potentially be why some academic philosophers don’t like public philosophy because people don’t have access to the same papers and journals that these academics have so, they may believe that the public cant contribute anything of value to the conversation. This is more of the reason why everyone should have access to all types of knowledge whether it be expensive textbooks or peer-reviewed journal articles. Gatekeeping will lead to a huge divide between academics and the public when in reality we should be working together because more people working on more problems together should lead to faster results.

As always stay curious!