In response to this weeks reading I can't help but be drawn towards Bishop's article 'The New Masters of Liberal Arts.' I was struck especially with her discussion around the commercialization of education. Coincidently, this issue has also been raised in some of my other classes, but was perfectly demonstrated by a 'representative' from ETS (Education Testing Service) this past Friday morning.
What was meant to be a brief talk about why the TOEIC test was a good way for employers to gauge language comprehension soon became a depressing sales pitch. What was more depressing was that after bestowing the virtues of the tests validity the representative then proceeded to inform us that students should be advised to take the test whilst in Canada so that their score was better, because they forget most of their English once they return home. When I suggested that this negates the original score's purpose or how a company can use the score when it fails to test speaking or writing levels I was promised an email that would answer my question before he cheerfully went on to point out that a dollar spend abroad was a dollar lost to the school.
ETS is also the same company responsible for a majority of high school tests around the world. There money driven attitude towards education certainly accounts for Bishop's suggestion that students are perceived as customers. Her idea that the ethos of education has changed from freedom, discovery and exploration to financial investment also produces a chill of acknowledgement. It's no secret that the Arts receive small attention in British Columbia's curriculum. After reading these articles I'm left to wonder if the potential of creative education was replaced by money would we still see such a disappointing trend?
And if you wondering, I never did get that email answer.
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