Winner makes an interesting choice by doing a satire: he seems to be attempting to present his views through a charicature of modern business CEO's. While not very funny, he does address a serious problem in American society today, how do we distinguish between that which is best run by the market and that which isn't? Winner's APM is the pinnicle of modern market capitalism, it is the triumph of neo-liberalism, it is the iTunes of education (and some people would argue is the end goal of NCLB). Thus, just as iTunes was the creative destructor of record stores, the APM would be the creative destructor of professors.
Really what Winner is arguing against isn't technology in education (although he seems to not be so fond of that), it's the system of beliefs that is being pushed with technology that he is mostly making fun of and that is the neo-liberal notion of specialization and championing of market forces (Neo-liberals believe that the economic clock has stopped at the current status quo, for better or worse. In order to suceed in this neo-liberal world, one must specialize and find their nieche in the flattened world economy. Winner's will be those who can specialize the fastest, and exploit market forces to their fullest. Loser's are left to charity and re-education to try and find their neiche. If you want to read the pre-eminant cheerleader for this, read Thomas Freidman The World is Flat, but take what he says with a grain of salt and think about whose story isn't told). Basically, he's saying the same thing he did in this weeks reading -- technology (and science) is political. LC Winner CEO, is one the technocrats who plays like technology is pure and carry's no baggage. While Winner, in writing this, is showing that you aren't just buying the APM, or a college degree, you are buying into a socio-economic belief system (dare I go so far as to say a lifestyle, even government?)
To conclude, I find it interesting that we are watching this movie off ANGEL, then communicating with each other on a blog... Can I get a certificate in ANGEL?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
re: certificate in ANGEL. Of course -- will be a great line on your resume. But seriously, an ability to communicate competently via most advanced technology is part of what an undergrad degree is intended to certify.
Post a Comment