john foster wrote:
>
> I have been following this 'debate' for some time now and in general
> appreciate your wisdom (a rare commodity these days) and support your
> position. however I must take issue with your assertion (below) that whilst
> some of the chilren of the rich could walk away from the torment of 'tests'
> most don`t..."so maybe people are "equal in this country after all?"
I meant: Equal in being unwittingly infected with the "semiotic virus" of
"competition" and the desire to earn the approval of the "elders", etc.
>
> <The fully human response to an attempt to
> impose a test on a student should be for the
> student to be able to walk away to another
> life situation in which he or she will
> not be treated so shabbily, and, in leaving,
> to tell the would-be examiners that they
> ought to be ashamed of themselves for
> such disrespectful behavior: "Who do
> you think you are? Mentors? or Tor-Mentors?". Some of
> the rich *could* do this, but, alas, most
> of them don't (so maybe people are
> "equal" in our country after all?).>
>
> A pretty shoddy piece of reasoning Brad, from such an erudite individual as
> yourself.
Upon rereading what I wrote here, I stand by it verbatim.
Only the last phrase in parentheses do I see as somewhat dubious, since
it employs irony, which, in the end, has no proper place
in our judgment of serious issues.
>
> Under the Capitalist mode of social production AND REPRODUCTION, the
> progeny of the rich and now SUPER RICH are 'helped across the line' - no
> matter how intelligent or otherwise they are as individuals - by the system
> of extremely well resourced elite private schools, which in this country
> (Australia) receive hundreds of millions of $$$ of public funds every year
> on the basis of "equity".
I attended a "private school", and it taught me essentially one
thing (or, rather reinforced it -- I learned it from
my "parents" -- mater before alma mater...): fear. Ditto Yale.
> Private Tutors/coaches, an abundance of
> teaching/learning aids and technologies, a home (usually a mansion) of
> their own with a room of their own in which to study in peace and comfort,
> a wellstocked library and larder, and social connections/networks to a
> range of 'professors', power-brokers and king-makers from 'The
> Professions', not to mention the promise of a seat on the board of one of
> the family-owned companies, all make taking the 'test' that much more
> endurable.
Maybe Yale has become more genteel in the 32 years since
I ceased being tested and graded there? I actually had one
professor who was decent. I once asked him how he could
lecture to us about the philosophy of freedom when he was
going to test us on this at the end of the term. He told me
he meant no harm. Professor John Wild -- a decent human being,
who believed that philosophy should contribute to Everyman's
quality of life.
>
> Moreover, as an article in The Age newspaper (Melbourne) of Sat Aug 5
> pointed out, it is only the top students from the private schools who are
> publically lauded for their academic achievements and 'success' every year,
> whilst the fate of hundreds of thousands if not millions of
> under-privileged children, who are forced to attend under-funded public
> schools of the type described in earlier posts on this topic, is ignored.
I agree with this -- Michelet described the millions as those who
end up even more dead than the rest, because their names are not
remembered. They are as if they had never existed, and, in a way
they didn't (they did not enter as peers into the "polis", however
constituted in a particular historical situation).
>
> However this appalling injustice cannot be maintained indefinitely, and a
> backlash is on its way!
[snip]
Probably true. But destruction may be no more constructive
than deconstruction, albeit its effects may be more
real.
Let each teacher (esp. tenured professors, not
the adjunct teaching white collar proletariat!) give his or her
accounting for whether he or she has been a mentor or
a tormentor. I can only say that my love of learning
was largely despite, not because of my schooling.
And the reason I have an EdD from Teachers College rather than
a classy PhD is because, after a certain point, I ceased
to be able to clear the hurdles. I finally found a
place which, if it couldn't help me very much, at least
didn't much get in my way, and even to the best of its
abilities (or, rather, to the best of a handful of professors'
abilities, helped me: Prof. Maxine Greene, for one, when I told her
that I wanted to write an essay on "morality in contemporary
architecture" for her "Education and Philosophy" course,
told me to go at it and I did not have to do any of the
assignments.).
For the spirit alone lives; all else dies.
(Jean de Coras, inquisitor of Martin Guerre)
+\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua NY 10514-3403 USA
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