Re: GPA's, ranking-culture

Bill Barowy (wbarowy who-is-at mail.lesley.edu)
Thu, 3 Jun 1999 21:15:00 -0400

>At 10:36 PM 6/2/99 -0400, Jay Lemke wrote:
>>
>>I don't simply mean that there are important competitive gates in our
>>society. I mean that most of us are raised in a culture with deep
>>assumptions and biases and values that give rise to both our educational
>>forms of competitive grading and those institutional gates. That are
>>embedded in us even if we explicitly reject the ethics and ethos of
>>competitiveness, whether in education or other arenas of life.
>>
>>What are the deep origins of the need to feel that others are not better
>>than you?
>>

And then Bill Barowy responded, but not to this list, unfortunately:

>
>Hi Jay,
>
> I think that is a great question, and one with which I am very
interested in pursuing. The development of "systems" kinds of thinking,
ecological thinking, etc. through which people can realize concepts such as
interdependence is one my particular interests. Consequently, one also
needs to understand the genesis of competititive thinking, or as I would
prefer to frame it, the development of competitive strategies and their
dynamic ontogenetic and phylogenetic ecological balances with cooperative
strategies, and other forms of strategies (avoiding a dichotomy and strict
hierarchy here.
>
>Not knowing exactly where to start, I am engaging a couple of schools in
an ecologically related project and wish to grow it. Greater interaction
with other institutions such as the Audubon society, Sustainable growth
organizations etc. is where I presently see things headed. And some sort
of evaluation plan. (But no one will be graded.)
>
>We have a beginning web site:
>
>http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/wbarowy/BA/Bestgrp.html
>
>

Now that postings seem to be working for Bill, at least from campus, he's=
had second thoughts about what he wrote before. From home, he wishes to ad=
d:

These ideas about competitiveness, about maximizing the potential for each=
individual, have collective consequences. We can already see what=
competition does with renewable resources when the resources are depleted=
beyond renewal. Examples with the North Sea Herring catch, Northwest=
Pacific Halibut, Peruvian Anchovies, Georges Bank Cod catch, etc. and the=
failure of government imposed policies, to take fishing as just one sample,=
can all remind us about how important it is for the citizenry not to be=
simply informed, but also understanding, and have undergone sufficient=
development in the personal and collective senses to act toward sustainabil=
ity.

I don't think these are just wild eyed rantings. Sitting as a student in=
a classroom in which the teacher is going to grade on a curve, seems to=
bring about similar competitive behavior as playing monopoly, or managing=
retirement annuities. It is more than the deep origins of the need to feel=
that others are not better than you. It is also about personal gain, about=
maximizing what the individual can achieve for the self, and not=
recognizing the interrelationships and interdependencies with other humans,=
or acting on those revelations. =20

It seems that there are studies of middle childhood linking the development=
of competitive and cooperative strategies to culture. We can recognize the=
many different settings that many North Americans come to appropriate=
competitive strategies, or that other settings in other cultures nurture=
collaborative strategies. What I am especially interested in is what=
interventions, what mediations, can help people develop beyond the day to=
day routine strategies to interact in more globally responsible ways. =20

Damned if I know how to do it.

But a lot of other people seem to think they have ways, from applying system=
dynamics, to learning the mathematics of competition and cooperation, or=
ecology, to more metaphysical and spiritual ways of identifying with the=
universe, all the way to the book of the dead (Thank you to whomever sent=
me a copy).

I'm interested in exploring all those ways.

Oh, and my little study of this internet mailing list tells me that if I =
use up all your available time reading this email, then you won't have time=
to post your own, as your available time is a renewable resource, and it=
would be ultimate irony for me to continue.

Bill Barowy, Associate Professor
Technology in Education
Lesley College, 31 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-2790=20
Phone: 617-349-8168 / Fax: 617-349-8169
http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/wbarowy/Barowy.html
_______________________
"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself
and watch yourself softly become the author of something beautiful."
[Norman Maclean in "A river runs through it."]