Biopolitical labor and the theory of "The Common" are explained in Hardt and Negri’s "Metamorphoses of the Composition of Capital". Hardt and Negri discuss the "Common", which can be described as common knowledge that leads to common wealth (knowledge that is not owned by a person or corporation). One of the key issues that is talked about in this article is the idea of "…draining the common bases of production and the latter privatizing the common results". To put this idea into other words, common knowledge is being privatized and sold at a price. This now has turned knowledge that every person has the right to know into a profiteering venture. Hardt and Negri assert that "biopolitical labor is reduced ever time the common is destroyed". Although the value of information is quite subjective, the questions that remain are; is it necessary to change publicly viewed information into a capitalistic profiteering venture, which only a few could view? Who places said value on this information? Who is allowed to make the decision as to which information is common and which information will be privatized?
An article written by Mary Beth Marklein in USA Today, “Ruling on Online Term Papers Cites Copyright Questions” demonstrates how public information can be made private and for-profit. In this article, Marklein illustrates the ability to purchase essay papers, term papers, even answers to complicated questions via the internet. This has all come from teachers who have sold off the homework, term paper or essay question that another student worked diligently to create. Students can then search online for a paper and purchase to turn in as his/her own work. There is a lawsuit in place to stop this behavior and the students whose papers were found online for sale could be entitled to compensation.
This, to me, is an outrage. I believe that work should be done by the person it is assigned to. Plagiarism is not something that should be taken lightly. In this instance, as in many, students do not feel that they need to complete the work and take the easy way out. This breeds a society of lazy people who learn that if you do not want to put forth the effort, someone else can do it for you and you can buy it. In relation to Marklein’s article to Hardt and Negri’s article, I do not believe that all knowledge should be public in this instance. The knowledge is present and available in society, in the form of research and due diligence, the same way the student who wrote the article found the information. In my opinion, no rational person would agree to allow the sale of this type of information nor would a person allow this information to be free to all. However, who has the right to choose what information to privatize and what information to remain public?
Links Available
Critical Review of Hardt and Negri Article
Mary Beth Marklein Article
Monday, March 15, 2010
Standardization Across The Board - Good Or Bad? By Tifanie Gleason
Sam Dillon’s article in the New York Times "Panel Proposes Single Standard for All Schools" outlines the very essence of the Frankfurt School of Thought. This article discusses how all schools should be standard in teaching materials from Kindergarten through high school. In this realm of thought, all Kindergartens would teach the same material, all first grades would teach the same material and so on and so forth. Teachers would all be trained the same way, and all learning would be uniform. "Another improvement over current state benchmarks, people involved in the initiative said, is that the proposed standards are what educators call vertically aligned, meaning that material students are to learn in early years builds a foundation for what is to come in the next grade " (Dillon). This new uniform set of standards has been called to action to unify our educational system. "Because the standards vary so widely, standardized tests keyed to them are not comparable from state to state, nor to national tests" (Dillon). In this standardization, all students would learn at the same rate, and test at the same rate. However, this would require new textbooks, lesson plans, and mass cooperation throughout the entire country. Standardized testing was put into place to try and unify the educational arena and create a level playing field for everyone. However, seeing as how schools in lower socio-economic areas tend to perform at a lower rate and school from higher socio-economic areas tend to perform higher, standardize testing did not quite serve its purpose.
In "Culture and Rationality in the Frankfurt School of Thought: Ideological Foundations for a Theory of Social Education", Henry Giroux critiques the positivist school of thought through education in that "the fetishism of facts and belief in value neutrality represents more than an epistemological error; more importantly , such a stance serves as a form of ideological hegemony that infuses positivist rationality with political conservatism that make it an ideological prop of the status quo" (p.41). This describes how conformity is stressed and how standardization is the key to a functioning society. I believe that Giroux would agree with the cookie-cutter testing that produces same thought processes, same answer giving students that can recite information back without using individualistic, higher level thinking. I also believe that Giroux would agree with the new standards of education that are being proposed in Dillon’s article because it would allow students to all be more conformed and standardized. This would allow for a more class-less society, at least in the realm of education because every student would be receiving the same education no matter what school a student would go to. If all students start receiving the same education, the playing field is leveled for jobs and then people would be able to move about socioeconomic classes more freely than today. This standardization would allow all students to be equal because students in the grade would be educated properly, and teachers would know that all students are working at the same level when the students arrive in a teacher’s classroom.
Links Available
Henry Giroux Website
Sam Dillon Article
Frankfurt School of Thought
In "Culture and Rationality in the Frankfurt School of Thought: Ideological Foundations for a Theory of Social Education", Henry Giroux critiques the positivist school of thought through education in that "the fetishism of facts and belief in value neutrality represents more than an epistemological error; more importantly , such a stance serves as a form of ideological hegemony that infuses positivist rationality with political conservatism that make it an ideological prop of the status quo" (p.41). This describes how conformity is stressed and how standardization is the key to a functioning society. I believe that Giroux would agree with the cookie-cutter testing that produces same thought processes, same answer giving students that can recite information back without using individualistic, higher level thinking. I also believe that Giroux would agree with the new standards of education that are being proposed in Dillon’s article because it would allow students to all be more conformed and standardized. This would allow for a more class-less society, at least in the realm of education because every student would be receiving the same education no matter what school a student would go to. If all students start receiving the same education, the playing field is leveled for jobs and then people would be able to move about socioeconomic classes more freely than today. This standardization would allow all students to be equal because students in the grade would be educated properly, and teachers would know that all students are working at the same level when the students arrive in a teacher’s classroom.
Links Available
Henry Giroux Website
Sam Dillon Article
Frankfurt School of Thought
Behavior Modification By Observation. By Tifanie Gleason
In the article "Right of Death and Power over Life", Michel Foucault describes how the shift of power has changed. Many years ago, sovereign entities had the right to choose everything about his subjects lives. He could even choose life and death for the people, called biopower. Biopower is literally having power over other bodies, "an explosion of numerous and diverse techniques for achieving the subjugations of bodies and the control of populations" (Foucault). Over the years, the rules of biopolitics have changed. It has come far from those sovereign entities could choose life and death, to only being allowed to choose death of a person in the event that another life is threatened, to today’s shift of punishment for a crime. Today, bio-power technology is about the investment of life, rather than the right to kill. Today, you are judged by a jury of your peers to create a punishment that fits a crime. According to Foucault, the reason for bio-power is to keep control over all people in a society. On the side of discipline, schools, camps, workshops, etc. are formed. In this aspect, prisons show what Foucault is explaining in his article. While inmates are incarcerated for a crime, they are forced to be watched at all times. This modifies behavior. If there is a thought of being caught for a criminal act because a more powerful presence is watching and can provide punishment, criminal acts diminish. This behavior modification allows inmates to then function in prison and then when released, function as a formative member of society.
Julie Bosman’s article in the New York Times "For Detained Youths, No Mental Health Overseer" is a slight stretch in relation to biopower, however, it does demonstrate how without proper people in a place of power over groups, extremes are taken. In this article, Bosman explains how schools in New York were physically detaining students with mental disabilities because of behavior problems. In any other circumstance where a mental health professional would have been present, this would not have happened because it is horrible to a student with a disability to be detained and made to feel like he/she has done something wrong. Students with mental disabilities cannot be detained like a criminal because in some instances, they do not know the act committed was wrong. Behavior modification using positive reinforcement would have helped with the student’s behavior problems. This demonstration of abused power shows a need for biopower over groups is necessary to enforce a balance and a set of rules and guidelines for every person. In my opinion, biopower is necessary for society to function as a normal productive society. More stringent rules could be in place so that these types of situations would not happen. This over-seeing, watched feeling give all of us a peaceful feeling of knowing that there will be a punishment for crimes committed.
Available Links
Critical Review of Michel Foucault's Article
Julie Bosman Article
Biopower
Julie Bosman’s article in the New York Times "For Detained Youths, No Mental Health Overseer" is a slight stretch in relation to biopower, however, it does demonstrate how without proper people in a place of power over groups, extremes are taken. In this article, Bosman explains how schools in New York were physically detaining students with mental disabilities because of behavior problems. In any other circumstance where a mental health professional would have been present, this would not have happened because it is horrible to a student with a disability to be detained and made to feel like he/she has done something wrong. Students with mental disabilities cannot be detained like a criminal because in some instances, they do not know the act committed was wrong. Behavior modification using positive reinforcement would have helped with the student’s behavior problems. This demonstration of abused power shows a need for biopower over groups is necessary to enforce a balance and a set of rules and guidelines for every person. In my opinion, biopower is necessary for society to function as a normal productive society. More stringent rules could be in place so that these types of situations would not happen. This over-seeing, watched feeling give all of us a peaceful feeling of knowing that there will be a punishment for crimes committed.
Available Links
Critical Review of Michel Foucault's Article
Julie Bosman Article
Biopower
Who Get To Choose Our Careers? By Tifanie Gleason
“Present and Future Education: A Tale of Two Economies”, Michael Albert addresses the two educational pathways. One pathway of education is individualistic, allowing education to start with the student. This allows students to develop skills and talents and conveys information processing tailored to one specific person. Another pathway is social and contextual. This pathway is designed for society’s benefit and tailors a student’s education, skills and talents to what would best benefit a society. Albert believes approximately 2% of society become an elite class or ruling people. About 18% are those who go through higher education and become administrators. The remaining 80% are left as working class to obey the people in power. Albert considers an alternative for society called “participatory economics” or parecon for short. In this alternative, Albert seeks to complete the four key values of society; solidarity, diversity, equity and self-management while presenting an equality of everyone. In this alternative, people’s pay, merit and earnings are not based on the amount of work done, but how much effort is put into the job (the more dangerous the job or the more effort you put into your job, the more money you will make). Therefore, some people will still make more money than the next person, but it will not be because of chance, birth or social status. In this stance, people’s careers will be what they do best. What is the best way to make sure that someone can perform the job correctly? Specialization and practice will make a person the best for said job.
Similarly, Sharon Otterman’s article in the New York Post titled “City Reconsiders Approach to Bronx Vocational School” mimics pieces of Albert’s book. It seems that a particular vocational school in the Bronx has a very low graduation rate. Because of this percentage (46%) being so low, the city wanted to shut this school down and open a Charter School. However, after observing, the board decided there would not be enough room for the construction portion of the school’s program. The board scrapped the proposal despite the low graduation rate. The concept of vocational schools is to train students for the remedial jobs that do not require higher education, but require specific skills training. This would fit in with Albert’s alternative of to education in which some people are trained to rule while others are trained to work. In this perspective, a student would be trained from a young age if he/she shows signs of talents in a particular field. This would progress specialization in that every person would function at 100% of ability from a younger age. This way, if a person is going to be specialized as a mechanic, focusing on English would not be essential; however, the student would focus more on Mathematics.
In opposition to what Albert wants, if specialization becomes too specific, social classes then become more prevalent. If a certain family always produces mechanics, and another family always produces doctors, you create a social class based on jobs. In Albert’s stance, pay would be based on the level of effort put into a job. Therefore, a mechanic might actually make more money than the doctor. I believe that there needs to be a mixture of both vocation and general education in the schools. General education leads to higher education which provides the doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals of the world. Vocational education provides society with mechanics, plumbers, electricians, factory workers and public service workers of the world. All of these examples are important for society to function properly. Without all parts of society functioning properly, society will not function at all. Doctors do not fix someone’s car and mechanics do not perform heart surgery. In the same way, who decides the person who will become the lawyer and who will become the mechanic? Who are those people who judge what profession is better than another and which profession deserves the higher pay and higher social stance.
Available Links
Michael Albert Article
Sharon Otterman Article
Similarly, Sharon Otterman’s article in the New York Post titled “City Reconsiders Approach to Bronx Vocational School” mimics pieces of Albert’s book. It seems that a particular vocational school in the Bronx has a very low graduation rate. Because of this percentage (46%) being so low, the city wanted to shut this school down and open a Charter School. However, after observing, the board decided there would not be enough room for the construction portion of the school’s program. The board scrapped the proposal despite the low graduation rate. The concept of vocational schools is to train students for the remedial jobs that do not require higher education, but require specific skills training. This would fit in with Albert’s alternative of to education in which some people are trained to rule while others are trained to work. In this perspective, a student would be trained from a young age if he/she shows signs of talents in a particular field. This would progress specialization in that every person would function at 100% of ability from a younger age. This way, if a person is going to be specialized as a mechanic, focusing on English would not be essential; however, the student would focus more on Mathematics.
In opposition to what Albert wants, if specialization becomes too specific, social classes then become more prevalent. If a certain family always produces mechanics, and another family always produces doctors, you create a social class based on jobs. In Albert’s stance, pay would be based on the level of effort put into a job. Therefore, a mechanic might actually make more money than the doctor. I believe that there needs to be a mixture of both vocation and general education in the schools. General education leads to higher education which provides the doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals of the world. Vocational education provides society with mechanics, plumbers, electricians, factory workers and public service workers of the world. All of these examples are important for society to function properly. Without all parts of society functioning properly, society will not function at all. Doctors do not fix someone’s car and mechanics do not perform heart surgery. In the same way, who decides the person who will become the lawyer and who will become the mechanic? Who are those people who judge what profession is better than another and which profession deserves the higher pay and higher social stance.
Available Links
Michael Albert Article
Sharon Otterman Article
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)