<<Then let me clarify. If one group tries to set standards for quality education measured by some sort of proving mechanism and the other organization says that you can't set standards because teaching is an art and therefore subjective and that any proving mechanism would be unfair and insulting to credentialed instructors which group would you say is engaging in domestic sabotage and which is partnering in achieving a national goal.>>
Thanks for the clarification. I don't think either group is engaging in domestic sabotage because they are both well-intentioned. This is a complex issue and I don't think you can lay down standards because this is not an engineering problem like making tires. Even if it can be called "social engineering," that's only a metaphor which serves to mask the underlying complexity. Teaching is an art just like medicine is an art. The problem seems to be that while the trial lawyers have ensured a reasonably high standard of medical and hospital practice, there doesn't seem to be any way for trial lawyers to make headway in reforming the educational system. The same complexities that stand in the way of the imposition of engineering-style standards also stand in the way of convincing any jury that School Board A is the reason why Student B is a moron, whereas there is enough of science mixed into the art of medicine that some issues are capable of a scientific analysis that will satisfy a jury. I believe teaching reform has to come mainly from within the profession.
If standards are not the answer, the solution has to be the production of better teachers through a combination of increasing salaries to attract better candidates, longer and more rigorous teacher training, including lifetime learning requirements, minimum hours of yearly seminars and conferences, more intensive research in pedagogy, etc. The whole thing is a function of money - - the more money you put into a well-planned system, the better the results to be obtained. But of course there are other priorities claiming on the same public funds, chiefly of course those of the military-industrial complex. It's a lot easier to scare the moronic American electorate of a bunch of Communists or crazy Arabs or whatever the Next Big Threat is gonna be than it is of another generation of morons just like themselves.
Where are the current obstacles? There's no question in my mind but that it's a combination of short-sighted unionized resistance to the disciplining or firing of unfit teachers, cheap-ass school boards, reactionary and/or religious interference in school curricula and right-wing political interference are combining to retard progress in American education.
<<And as a corollary in your opinion is an educated citizenry a worthy national goal?>>
Yeah, at least then you wouldn't have to deal with candidates like Bush and Palin. The oligarchy would have to produce more intelligent figureheads and front-men.
<<By the way, i disagree with your theory that there is but one oligarchy that controls the country. If one were to subscribe to such a theory, my guess is that there would be competing oligarchies that hope to control the spoils if their candidates are victorious. So in that sense it would make a difference who wins. >>
You're right, there
are competing oligarchies. Exporters and importers. Finance and commerce. Commerce and industry. Highways (including auto manufacturers and the oil industry) versus railways and airlines. Sorry if I oversimplified. At the same time, there seems to be some kind of consolidation going on, within each competing group and between groups. The wealth of the nation is being concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. The share of the top 5% or 10% keeps growing.
