The Dream Palace of Educational Theorists – New English Review

The Dream Palace of Educational Theorists – New English Review:
Professionals have their own credentialing systems: You may have graduated law school, but you’ll still have to pass the bar exam, and so on. Then why make aspiring lawyers go to law school? Presumably for the same reason we insist on cube jockeys having bachelor’s degrees from accredited four-year colleges. Why not let them study up at home from Teaching Company DVDs, then sit for a state-refereed common exam when they feel they’re ready? Why not let lawyers learn on the job from books and as articled clerks, the way they used to? I don’t know. College-going is just an irrational thing we do, the way upper-class German men used to acquire dueling scars, the way women in imperial China had their feet bound. Griggs vs. Duke Power probably has something to do with it. Since, following that decision, employers are not permitted to test job applicants to see how intelligent they are, the employers seek a college degree as a proxy for intelligence.

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ahhh, a nice critical piece to start the day. keep in mind that this ‘journal’ is a bit iffy in terms of who it affiliates with and i’m not really supporting this guys writing, just saying…. that there is something to be critical about in the critique of education, and well, the way education conceptualizes the person is one place for critique.