In his examination of the four types of games, Caillois indicates the importance of acknowledging non-productive and non-useful forces at work in any event. Of the four attitudes/games, we saw that game theory based its theory of human behavior exclusively on the competitive, win-at-all-cost drive assumed in games of agon. In the objections to game theory, we can see that part of its failure to recommend sound strategy in every situation lies in the fact that not all situations/games are based in agon. Driven by alea, mimicry, or illinx, players will willingly resign themselves to fate, non-rationality, and vertigo.
Relevance to my project: Education reform based in the measure of standardized testing sees the problem-solution entirely in terms of agon. They point to a lack of motivation -- they say a competitive, performance-based salary will push teachers to "win" the extra money by going the extra mile for their students. Standardized tests act as the figure of the official/referee and --true to the spirit of agon -- it is regarded with the utmost authority and respect. The test is also the stadium where students are judged against each other, ranked based on their individual, indisputable (lack of) achievement.
No comments:
Post a Comment