Phil wrote:
>Realism is not the sole property of business life. Market logic and
>education are at odds with one another where societal outcomes are concerned.
On this, I agree with Phil. It is important to remember that what is real
is construed in practice. There is no inevitable end-point, is there?
The corporate model which is driven by "fast-capitalism" is
familiar to me in the climatic shifts within my own institution
as I am sure it is to the rest of you in yours. I, frankly, don't
like it. I like to be driven (I AM driven) but I do NOT want and
WILL not drive myself to drive myself. The chassis doesn't run
without an imaginative horizon, a "good" to strive for or to
inform whatever object is in view.
Right now, the "good" explicitly advanced by my administration
is defined by visible, countable outcomes, dollars and numbers
of awards and applause (immediate and wide-as-possible recognition
of persons in any (non-criminal?) capacity. The "good" in my mind
is not "MORE OF xxx" but an imagined transformation of xxx.
A fast-capitalist model feeds off image, not vision.
Nevertheless, I agree with Louise Y., that reality demands we take
a capitalist perspective as ONE lens on what we are about -- that is,
we have to keep in mind the pressure on public educational institutions
no longer supported by state dollars to survive somehow. And that requires
that we look for and exploit the constructive potential of the marketplace.
Anyone care to translate that position into AT terms?
Judy
Judith Diamondstone (732) 932-7496 Ext. 352
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1183
Eternity is in love with the productions of time - Wm Blake