Friday, August 19, 2011

* Worshiping the Deity, DATA , at Dartmouth

By Andrew Lohse, Guest Columnist


The Dartmouth
Published on Friday, August 19, 2011

RESPONSE:






















Mr. Lohse is incorrect in saying "people of color did not speak in the series"  I believe President Kim is a speaker on Health Care.

As for Mr. Samwick's arched back over Mr. Lohse's indignation at mercantile values: Mr. Lohse reflects the canyon between the worlds of C.P. Snow's epic work The Two Cultures: Arts v. Sciences.

Since worship of the deity Data has invaded not only primary and secondary education but higher education as well, it is not surprising that a lecture series
called "Leading Voices" at an Ivy League institution would deal primarily with data-driven issues - - - those which are decidedly on the “sciences” side of C.P. Snow’s canyon.

We might as well get used to this metastasizing of data-driven decisions in our society, as reflected in Dartmouth’s  apparent perception that  “Leading Voices” are those that worship at the altar of Data, i.e.,  not artists, not musicians, not humanitarians, not philosophers (you get the point.)

As computer futurist Jaron Lanier says presciently in his new book You Are Not a Gadget, “What computerized analysis of all the country’s school tests has done to education is exactly what Facebook has done to friendships. In both cases, life is turned into a database.” (kindle 1392 +)

Welcome to “Twenty-first Century” teaching and learning and living.


Paul D. Keane
M.A., M.Div., M.Ed.

No comments: