Re: denny's

[Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol@xxxxxxx>]

At 01:33 PM 8/31/99 -0400, kelley wrote:
>furthermore, underlying such testing is, of course, the assumption that
>college educations must be rationed out.  why?  such policies are racist
>when, as you say to wojtek, certain groups are disproportionately the
>loosers in the testing game.  and, as long as we have structural systems of
>social inequality those methods of weeding people out will always be
>problematic.  the methods of evaluation themselves then are part of the
>interlocking proceses of capitalism, racialization and sexuation.


kelley, i do no think that restricted access is the most racist or sexist
aspect of testing or higher education in general.  the most racist and
sexist is another assumption - that you do not mention - that "academic
worth" can be reduced to one-dimensional "intelligence" and that
one-dimensional factor is equated with the cultural trait possessed by a
particular group.  For example, if white males tend to do better in math,
then "mathematical ability" becomes the standard for intellegence.  Such a
single standard of intelligence and the exlusion of other possible
standards (such as psychomotor coordination, or aesthetic perception) is
pretty racist and sexist.


The rationing out you mention has a different function, imho.  The
restriction of entry to a select group artificially increases the value of
eduction, and turn the select few who possess it to an elite.  It can
operate in such a way in an otherwise homogeneous society.  I think that
aspect of higher education is more insidious than its racism or sexism -
because it can sustain itself without any "external" distinctions and
status hierarchies.

wojtek