Re: school, work, and education

Phil Graham (pw.graham who-is-at student.qut.edu.au)
Thu, 03 Dec 1998 18:06:04 +1100

At 10:48 02-12-98 -0800, you wrote:
>Another thread in this "school to work" discussion is the persistent
>negative perspective upon anything "corporate." I recently returned from
>my high school reunion, and most everyone was either working a blue-collar
>job or working as a manager for a corporation. The fact is, most students
>are going to wind up working in a corporation, and I fail to see the
>educational or pedagogical benefit of avoiding this reality. Why not teach
>them about how corporate culture works and give them some tools to reform
it?

So what you suggest is to let the corporate sector dictate curriculum so's
to get children ready for their immutable, inevitable uptake into corporate
life?

Not a great idea. Do you have children?

Teaching children how "corporate culture works" within a corporatised
curriculum will leave little room for giving the tools to reform it (how
would this be achieved?). That's because the discourse of corporate culture
_is_ the primary tool of its social hegemony. Being such, it is largely
invisible and leads to people believing that there is no other alternative,
as you, yourself, exemplify.

Phil
Phil Graham
pw.graham who-is-at student.qut.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/8314/index.html