Hi Paul--
I have no doubt that testing can be analyzed in terms of commodification
in capitalists societies and that this mode of use and its logica are
pervasive. However, I am sceptical about a causal link that goes
capitalism--> testing in schools.
We can struggle with the resulting mess in lots of places, but if that
struggle goes out of bounds (trying giving all A's to a class if you want
to see one kind of trouble and all c's if you want another!) those bricks
you talked about earlier will be all around.
This relates to Gary's message on Asimov's robot's and his attempts to
translate it into teachers, and the Esteban's reminder of what utopia
means.
If he is reading at present, Eugene might want to comment on what it means
to live in a society which had a utopian teacher/task master not so long
ago. I have written on utopian methodology a little. I think, Esteban,
that utopian methodologies crucially depend on the fact that utopia is
nowhere.
There is a great (to my mind) meditation on this topic in Kundera's *Book
of laughter and forgetting*. If there is interest, we might pursue the
topic that way.
I believe, incidently, that from time to time I see utopiam moments in the
activities we create for/with kids and undergrads and community institutions.
They are time when lots of goals are being achieved through local others
and a high level of "flow" is generated. They don't/can't last long. Few
living things do.
mike
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