While I am definitely concerned by the fact my children are getting sour
asses, I would frankly rather have sour asses than lost souls which are the
object of inspection in both the left and conservative approaches of
neoliberalism. I become as concerned with Lave and Wenger when they see
identity construction as a prerequisite to legitimate peripheral
participation as I do with Chubb and Moe's argument of capitalist
Darwinians. Frankly I don't see much difference in the approaches to
educational reform on the left or the right, they seem to be operating from
the same basic foundations.
I am reminded of Vygotsky's provoking quote in Educational Psychology on
page 343,
"Nowhere did the sickness of the Tsarist pedagogics exibit itself with such
clarity as in those instances when, in place of open warfare between
teacher and student, there sprang up friendly relationships. The
deification of the "favorite teacher" which assumed the form of adoration,
represents, in fact a genuine psychological problem that recalls that which
in psychoanalyst is referred to as transference".
In reference to Diane's reference of critical social consciousness it
implies, at least for me, that production is not outside of reproduction.
Production/reproduction being a dialectical unity of sorts and production
not being outside reproduction. Simply making reproduction more hidden by
making it "closer to the people" so they will be more apt to appropriate,
identity, or purchase the values of the dominant culture does not seem to
be a viable solution. Critical social consciousness would seem to imply
that reproduction is not outside of us, but inside of us and that in order
to be productive we must be critical. An interesting trend is rather than
teaching children to be critical of the media we are exploiting children's
sensitivity to it. A recent example is the anti-tobacco aids in which the
states are using the same approach at manipulation and identity
construction as the tobacco companies used. House argues along similar
lines in that schools need more pep rallies and community builders to fight
off the influence of the evil media. While Diane is probably right in
reference to critical social consciousness I have a hard time believing the
power that be would be willing to fund such a project.
Nate
----- Original Message -----
From: Eugene Matusov <ematusov who-is-at UDel.Edu>
To: <xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
Sent: Friday, May 14, 1999 5:04 PM
Subject: RE: Campaign Against Public Schools
> Hi Diane and everybody--
>
> I agree with Diane that the question of what are schools for and what is
> education for are very important questions and should be answered before
> public/private schools.
>
> On the side of history, I think we should be a bit more critical about
> celebrating compulsory mass education and eliminating illiteracy. I was
> lucky enough to be raised (in part) by my print-illiterate grandma to
> appreciate oral literacy (that I and generations after me are robbed
from).
> Greek poet Homer was not able to read and write. I think it is not
> overgeneralization that mass print literacy killed mass oral literacy to
> very high extend. IMF schools are (deliberately) responsible for
destroying
> many traditional societies. Also schooled print literacy is a very
peculiar
> as we know...
>
> I do not believe that current schools (both public and private) are THE
> pathways to our society. But under current policies, it is very
difficult
> to try anything else. However, current schools establish very good
> discipline regime of reproduction. David Tyack and Larry Cuban (1995, p.
> 85) point out, "The basic grammar of schooling... has remained remarkably
> stable over the decades." Majority schools (both public and private) are
> nothing more than prison of minimum security for kids (although it is
> getting more security every year specially for urban schools). Viva
> schools -- no more child labor but ass abuse! Cynically speaking we
should
> combine together money for schools and for prisons in one budget.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Eugene
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Diane HODGES [mailto:dchodges@interchange.ubc.ca]
> > Sent: Thursday, May 13, 1999 11:48 PM
> > To: xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu
> > Subject: Re: Campaign Against Public Schools
> >
> >
> > At 8:04 5/14/99, MDLedoux who-is-at aol.com wrote:
> > >
> > >If we are attempting to strengthen school culture and build upon
> > the cultural
> > >strengths of individuals, shouldn't there be support of attempts
> > at schooling
> > >that enhances these areas of learning?
> > >
> >
> > what i am not hearing in this discussion are notions of
> > epistemology or the cultivation of critical social conscience or
> > any kind of "what is education for?" ideas beyond the
> >
> > acceptance of "school" as cultural - and "school" is certainly
> > the problematic manifestation of "education" - so what
> >
> > are other cultural manifestations of education and its relations
> > to knowledge and conscience? that is, if the issue is about "schools"
as
> > failed institutions, then private/public domains are not
> >
> > the issue; but rather what is education for? is the question, isn't it?
> > diane
> >
> > """"""""""""""""""""""" """""""""""""""""""""""""""""
> > When she walks,
> > the revolution's coming.
> > In her hips, there's revolution.
> > When she talks, I hear revolution.
> > In her kiss, I taste the revolution.
> > (poem by Kathleen Hanna: Riot Grrl)
> > ******************************************
> > diane celia hodges
> > university of british columbia
> > centre for the study of curriculum and knowledge
> > vancouver, british columbia, canada
> >
>