Out of all the things that we read and discussed in my group, I only really understood one of them. My understood portion came from Chapter 12: Education and Its Legitimation through Performativity.
Lyotard writes about postmodern education. He writes that school, or more specifically, a school of higher learning, is no longer a place where a few “elite” go to learn ideas that set them apart from the rest of the people in a world without knowledge. We discussed that now, going to college is the expected norm which everyone is supposed to do. No longer do people go to school to become intelligent, now they go to school to be trained for one job and to receive a piece of paper which allows them to be accepted into the world of adulthood.
As we discussed this, I thought back to a quote from one of my favorite teachers of my high school career, Mr. Gary Hall. As a senior, about once a week he would tell me, “All you have to do is play the game they want you to play for the rest of the year, then you’re good to go.” I believe Mr. Hall’s wise words fit perfectly with the idea that Lyotard presents here.
I commented on Amanda Gaster's post...
Life has become all about these little soulless games that we play with our friends, our education, and even our employment-it can be quite frightening! Many people would say that the school system is messed up, but I'm not sure many people realize how compartmentalized and institutionalized it has become. Never forget, Nick, you have not come to college to get a degree so you can have a job, you are here to learn how to live your life and get a full education, don't stop till you get enough (SHAMON!).
ReplyDeleteI remember a saying whose author I can't recall, but the saying said that we begin our education learning a little about everything. Then as we keep narrowing down our education, we know nothing about everything, and everything about nothing. It's saying that at first, our education is broad, learning varying subjects (math, history, art, music, science, literature), but as we get into college, we focus on one area of study: religion and literature education for me. Then in graduation, you specialize in a particular area. It seems like when you get your final degree, you only are useful in one or two specific areas. However, I think the Honors program is doing a lot for us. It's giving us a little history, literature, philosophy, and theology. The best of all possible worlds, so to speak. That way, we're learning a good bit about many different courses of study.
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