[Ian]
Hi Arlo, not sure where you were coming from with the quoted
sentence, "some things are better than others", But, Yes.
[Arlo]
The typical rant against "equalization" from a MOQ context relies on
this from ZMM, "But some things are better than others, that is, they
have more quality." My point is that many use this (or confuse this)
as an attempt to point to some deeper existential value of the
person. Little Johnny's math score is "better" than Little Joey's. We
shouldn't gloss over that to make Joey "feel good". If he gets a "D",
he gets a "D". They should not both get "A's" to satiate Joey's need
to feel good about himself. Fair enough, I say, but where from there?
What we have gotten in this pendulum swing is a system that does not
make a profound value judgement of Joey, "he's just stupid, a dumb
loser kid". What we want is a system that asks, "why did Joey fail?"
And we should have a system that does not dismiss Joey as
existentially inferior to Johnny. And that, Ian, is where we WERE.
That is the historical arc from which this pendulum has swung. So
when the talk-radio buffoons bloviate about so-and-so ridiculous
example of "equalization", I keep in mind that for every example of
THAT, there are countless Joey's who may find success in alternate
learning environments, who are not ridiculed as being "stupid", nor
dismissed by a system into a dead-end path. For every "team that is
not allowed to keep score", there are now many, many disabled kids
who are given the opportunity to excel in a system that turned a
cold, blind eye to them for so long.
In other words, the idea of "betterness" is used by some to attempt
to hierarchically rate the worth of a person, rather than the Quality
of an ability. And it is with an eye towards this that I remain
critical of those who constantly condemn "equality".
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