David B. Shemano wrote:
>> By referring to the rule of free market ideology, are you saying
>> that Duncan and Obama .. [perhaps] have concluded
>> that (rightly or wrongly), as an empirical matter, market education
>> is preferable?
Doug Henwood:
> They may have done that, but the empirical evidence in favor of the
> proposition is mixed to nonexistent.
I used the word "ideology" advisedly. Free-market ideology says that
all else constant, it's presumed that market competition is superior
to (say) democratic decision-making, even about collective matters.
The Invisible Hand gets the benefit of the doubt, while ambiguous
empirical evidence is interpreted as pro-market.
Of course, to Duncan, it's more than markets: the whole idea of "teach
to the test" (sorry, they call it "no child left behind" or "race to
the top") is a classic top-down bureaucratic scheme, one that would
warm the heart of a Soviet or corporate hierarch.
--
Jim Devine
"Those who take the most from the table
Teach contentment.
Those for whom the taxes are destined
Demand sacrifice.
Those who eat their fill speak to the hungry
of wonderful times to come.
Those who lead the country into the abyss
Call ruling too difficult
For ordinary folk." – Bertolt Brecht.
_______________________________________________
pen-l mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
