Dear all,
Singapore is leading the list of nations scoring outstandingly in the PISA and TIMSS tests globally. Ask a Singaporean student - does he play sport or does he enjoy his school-tuition-homework life? Is he really enjoying his children years? Would be interesting to have some answers from them here....
My actual question was .....do you think PISA is just measuring the academic ability of a student? Dont you think we need to measure some other things as well to be clear on which students will probably be living better lives and also be involved in bettering lives around them? We do not just need academically strong pupils but ones who can lead us in shaping our future.
PISA tests are a good way to know where we stand academically in comparison to the rest of the world, that i agree but who is measuring the cost at which the students are able to perform better?
What do you think?
The PISA test is a rough, limited test of potential labour-power quality at the level of nations. That is, which nations are better preparing young people for capitalist work. However, it measures a very narrow range of labour-power attributes for national capitals. It is but one factor in the calculations of those human representatives of capital who are interested in overseas investment.
Read Sir Ken Robinson, or watch his TED-talk (the most viewed ever).
The balance between the two hemisphere is very important.
PISA messure the left hemisphere, language, logic and have a linear- way of seeing life. Difficulties being present in the now, because having alot of thiniking of past and future.
School kills creativity and PISA kill joy of life.
Dear @Glenn Rikowski... interesting point but i would have to go through the tests and gauge whether your point is accurate...going through some of these PISA tests they do not seem to focus on testing "labour quality" material, rather they seem to gauge comprehension, critical thinking and are sometimes challenging even for elders (actually these tests designed for 15 to 16 yr olds)... It does focus on academically linked material and that somehow seems to fail to capture the all round skill or sompetence of the individuals, that is my point.
So thankyou Glenn, your point raises some interesting questions:
1) Is PISA measuring the "labour quality" of students?
2) If we go through recent job postings, they specifically mention "Competencies" like negotiation skills seperately, highlighting that our schools and colleges are probably failing on developing other important competencies which are needed badly. Is PISA measuring these in their tests?
Would be lovely to hear from you all on this and would love to have any new questions related to it.
Dear Professor Siddiqui: All the qualities you list above are, in fact, labour-power attributes. That is, skills, capacities, mental and physical capabilities (including work and social attitudes) pertinent to performance in capitalist labour processes. 'Education produces labour-power', as Marx noted in 'Theories of Surplus Value - Part 1' (1863). This is more relevant today than when Marx said it, as education systems have developed more decisively as producers of labour-power over the last 150 years. The PISA tests do not measure "labour quality" but the quality of potential labour-power - which is different.
Given my intellectual orientation, I have no problems pursuing further the ideas offered by Glenn Rikowski ... although I am sure they will encounter rejection, attacks, and shrugs from other quarters. What I do urge is more nuance as well as more robustness, in such a line of analysis: (1) PISA scores tend to be high in high-income Asian nations -- Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, Singapore. If the education system is reproducing labor-power attributes demanded by advanced capitalism, then the (somewhat rigid, not student-friendly) education systems of these rich Asian nations are producing high-productivity labor power; not the raw labor power that the global agriculture as well as manufacturing sectors need. (2) Are PISA scores rising fast in Bangladesh, for example; which has become the (quite dangerous) global center of textile garment production? If yes, then perhaps it is somewhat okay... to pull Bangladesh out of exploitative outsources factory work and into high-skilled (semi-exploitative) work sectors. (3) We also need to bring into such analysis the high PISA scores of some European nations where the capitalist work is less exploitative than even rich Asian nations, and the education systems are friendly toward students.
Very interesting point dear Glenn Rikowski
So what other qualities or competencies would you rather prefer to be included? Or rather qualities or competencies which do not support this capitalist system?This would help us in understanding your point further, sir.
Dear Professor Siddiqui: It is an empirical matter what qualities, competencies, skills, attitudes and personality traits are required. It depends on the specific labour processes the young people (or adult workers) are going into. Empirical study of relevant recruitment processes is the key here. Therefore, my PhD research was based on a study of the recruitment of craft and technician engineering apprentices. This gave me a picture of the labour-power attributes desired by employers (as representatives of capital) in an engineering context. There are no labour-power attributes that do not support capitalism, in themselves. That is an inappropriate and unscientific way of looking at the problem. The key point is the social context in which labour-power attributes (and labour-power is a transhistorical phenomenon and concept) are expressed as labour. Thus, if labour-power is expressed through labour in a workers' co-operative constituted as a transitional, anti-capitalist organisation, then that labour-power is expressed in an anti-capitalist mode of existence. But the very same labour-power attributes, expressed as labour in an enterprise aimed at value and profit production, with no workers' control, supports capitalism.
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