Thursday, April 14, 2005

Corporate Pathology

Brian Alger consistently bends my brain with the biggest and most difficult questions about the purpose of schooling. Last week he was examining the pathology of corporations and how they relate to the perceived purpose of the education system:"In schools we help students 'prepare' for the workforce, or the world they will live in (at least as we imagine it). Many students, however, look out into the world and wonder exactly what is going on and ask why they would want to participate in it in the first place. I have seen many students ponder over a decision for long periods of time -- and so they should. It may be, that taking time away from school and traveling or experiencing some other dimensions of life are precisely what is needed to fuel a student's inner strength.

So many students graduate from school system to corporate existence. And if the corporation as generic structure is at least partly, 'a pathological institution, a dangerous possessor of the great power it wields over people and society' then is all our career planning merely fueling the pathology?"

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