[AAACE-NLA] A reminder

[George E. Demetrion]

On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 12:53:44 -0400 "David Collings" <david at collings.com>
writes:
>George and others, it is true that I have been more of a lurker than 
>anactive participant.  But as your moderator I believe that my role is
>more conduit than instigator.  I am not silent from fear of reprisal,
>but from the desire to watch and wait for an opportunity to add
>something valuable from my own experience.

David,

I should have clarified.  My challenge was issued to the NIFL moderators
since they are the ones who are under the gun to carry out or to try to
modify various dictates and pressure points that are being funneled
through NIFL.

My doing so is far from personal as I have cordial relationships with
several of the moderators that I would like to continue to nurture. 
Rather, my intentions are political as well as epistemological in that I
seek to identify, grapple with, and if possible, push the boundaries of
the space of allowable (psychological and otherwise) public discourse in
terms of what can and can not be said, by whom and by what mediums.

Among much else, what I find interesting in the Bush-Paige educational
policy is their enshrinement of a certain limited scientific world view
as the only serious discourse in which studies about education can be
framed.  What they are particularly against is what they view as the
relativism of progressive education, especially anything that smacks of
constructivism and the enshrinement of values into the realm of research.

Yet, when you look at their policy instead of what they proclaim, they
are the principle constructivists of our time.  That is, in their various
subtle and not so subtle efforts to control educational language by
defining the parameters of legitimate and illegitimate discourse, they
seek to define truth by and through the mechanisms of institutional power
that they seek to control.  Whatever else this subtle and not so subtle
intimidation to control discourse on the NIFL list is, it is part of a
broader design to define and control the realm of legitimacy.  In that
very act they are making Michael Focault's knowledge/power claim much
more effectively that whatever could be accomplished through abstract
French philosophy.  In the process they are deconstructing their own
scientific world view.  

What makes this even more pernicious is not so much the truth in what I
may be saying, but only whether or not what I and other critics say gain
sufficient public credibility so as to actually influence the course of
events.  By shutting out some of the more critical perspectives, NIFL is
playing its assigned role in legitimizing the neoconservative juggernaut
that its advocates can only promote through coercion, propaganda, and
subtle and not-so subtle intimidation.

The fact that NIFL has not had to make good on explaining how the laws on
lobbying shape exactly what can and cannot be said on their airwaves, but
resorts instead to various "reminders," which basically serve as an end
run against an actual explanation, is an issue, in particular that the
NIFL moderators might address.

That in turn points to what they can and cannot say (or feel compelled
not to say) on the neutral ground of this list.  Whether or not they
speak and what they say and perhaps what they don't say is far from a
personal issue, but becomes a symbolic signpost itself in how the
politics of literacy are operating in the current climate.  While we may
have a general sense on how they are being played out, the broader issue
is how much fluidness there is in the current situation.  That may
require less up front analysis per se, than creative experimentation
combined with critical reflection.

So, to take a page from the scientists, why not engage in the experiment
in free and open discourse  and see where it leads?

George Demetrion


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