My view:
(1) Being a producer and buyer of commodities is a condition I want to get
out of, and
(2) Commodity production is the foundation of a society which gives us war,
famine, serial murder and all sorts of inhumanity, so I do what I can to
encourage other people to limit their enthusiasm for commodity production
and exchange.
(3) Commodification of education is hardly more despicable than
commodification of food production, health care, physical safety or
anything else.
(4) The state acting as a mediating term in your relationship with a
student is actually a more archaic and detestable relationship than that of
commodity exchange.
Andy
At 04:10 PM 9/09/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>Martin,
>
>Certainly things shouldn't be reduced to commodity exchange. (It does
>sound rather negative, especially in education.) And as you said, you have
>many responsibilities. Even so, aren't you selling your services to the
>state and also acting as an agent of the state? As such, why couldn't one
>of your responsibilities as state agent be seen as providing a service to
>your students?
>
>Charles Nelson
>
>>But the initial premise is the in the first sentence. A teacher is not a
>>service provider.As a teacher I do not sell anything The relationship is
>>not one of service and provision and receipt and a student is not a client.
>>
>>Elsewhere I have clinets. They contract to me for a service I provide. The
>>dynamics and obligations on all sides are different. As a teacher I have a
>>multiplicity of responsibilities and those go beyond the student. In my
>>case the state pays for both my participation and the participation of my
>>students (are they the client?).
>>
>>As a teacher I do not sell anything. We are not involved in any form of
>>commodification. The student is expected to be more than a receiver of a
>>service, they are not consummers, customers or clients. Things should not
>>be reduced to commodity exchange. It is inherently a capitalist way of
>>seeing the world. It loses sight of other ways of interpreting social
>>relations.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Martin Owen
>>Labordy Dysgu- Learning Lab
>>Prifysgol Cymru Bangor- University of Wales, Bangor
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Oct 10 2001 - 15:49:11 PDT