Category Archives: Composition

Parents and students “have no solid evidence, comparable across institutions, of how much students learn in colleges or whether they learn more at one college than another” (13). To address these problems, the Spellings commission urges a number of reforms. The most controversial is that, to improve accountability, “higher education institutions should measure student learning” (23) using “quality-assessment data” that would be made public. These “outcomes-focused” measurements of what students are learning at particular colleges would “be accessible and useful for students, policymakers, and the public,” as well as for academics themselves (23), and would enable parents and prospective students to compare the quality of education offered by different colleges and universities.

Comments on the Spellings Commission Report, from the Executive Council of the Modern Language Association of America, March 2007

First there was the fiasco of No Child Left Behind, which Brian Stecher has called “a failure of imagination,” that “focuses on a very narrow set of outcomes, and ignores many elements that students and their families find satisfying, challenging and motivating about their schools.” It’s also a boon for the standardized testing industry and contributes to shrinking budgets for everything from physical fitness to music education.

In classic Bush fashion, since it did not work, it’s time to bring the same programs to colleges and universities. This time, though, things are different. The Bush administration does not quite have the sexy cache it once had, to say the least, and the parties involved are much more powerful than teacher’s unions and parents groups. So the creation of a denatured, narrow curriculum, seem to have hit a snag. Here’s the MLA’s timid but nonetheless strikingly critical response.

What’s interesting about the Spelling Commission’s report is its utter irrelevance. It says nothing about the rise in the use of part-time labor, inflated tuition and fees, the destruction of academic freedom of speech, the rise of proprietary education. or the general dying up of funding for higher educatoin. It looked at an entire system in crisis and it decided that the best solution was standardized testing.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — In the first scholarly research examining the role of black bloggers in the blogosphere, Brown University researcher Antoinette Pole assessed how bloggers of color use their medium for purposes related to politics. She found that black bloggers are, in fact, mobilizing readers to engage in political participation. Additionally, Pole found that black bloggers do not feel discriminated against or excluded by other bloggers. These findings appear in the International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society.

Among the top political blogs, Pole says blogging has primarily been undertaken by white men, coined by Chris Nolan as the “Big Boys Club.” She says blacks comprise approximately less than 1 percent of political bloggers.

“Though they are less numerous, examining the role of minorities in the blogosphere is important if blogs are being used to engage in political discourse and discussion, and more importantly, political action that has real-world implications,” Pole said. “Who has influence in the blogosphere and how bloggers are using this new medium to undertake political action merits study.”

from E-Activism: Analysis of Black Bloggers in the Blogosphere

I have never been a fan of identity politics– to my way of thinking, the way around all sorts of bad things is through real economic freedom, particularly wide-spread unionization and a shortened work week. If we got the week down to say, 20 hours, well, we would have time to fight all sorts of evil.

It’s hard to argue with Eugene Robinson, though, when he writes that “class is important. But race is, too, and while I hope we eventually get to the point where race is irrelevant, we still have a long way to go.” Among the places to start reading, the Black Agenda Blog, the Angry Black Women, blackfeminism.org and blackprof.com.