Standards as a Threat to Open‐mindednes

Abstract

The article examines the view that open-mindedness, which is seen as a critical weapon in the teacher's armoury, is endangered by the movement to establish objective standards in education generally and in teacher education in particular. It analyses different ways in which standards impinge on open-mindedness and proceeds to examine the possibilities, under each heading of the analysis, for containing the threat. SOMMAIRE L'article étudie le point de vue selon lequel l'ouverture d'esprit, considérée comme une des armes critiques en matiére d'enseignement, est menacée par le mouvement tendant a établir des standards objectifs dans le domaine de l'enseignement dans son ensemble, et plus particulièrement dans celui de la formation des enseignants. Il analyse de quelle manière ces standards gênent toute ouverture d'esprit, et étudie, dans chaque point de l'analyse, les moyens de combatter une telle menaceIf liberal attitudes in general are in a somewhat unhealthy state of confusion these days, open-mindedness is surely an endangered species. Indeed, its non-existence has already been declared by those who judge the attitude to be purely mythical. Others take the view that it should not, in any case, be protected, since it only serves to promote unwelcome consequences. I have dealt with these matters elsewhere [ 1 ], and here I wish to address a different, albeit related, concern. It is often suggested that various practices and phenomena associated with the idea of standards in education threaten the ideal of open-mindedness. This suggestion amounts to saying that certain aspects of standards are incompatible with open-mindedness in teaching [2]. Confusion is endemic here because the criticism shifts imperceptibly from suggestions of logical incompatibility to allegedly insuperable conflicts in practice. The net result is a growing suspicion that, even if open-mindedness is not entirely imaginary, it is all but impossible to achieve, and there is little point pursuing it. My concern throughout is with conceptual issues, and I will not be trying to settle problems of a practical kind a priori. On the other hand, it will not be possible to see these problems in perspective without conceptual clarity. Let us begin by examining the ways in which the incompatibility is thought to arise. The Threat Outlined Setting StandardsConsider, for example, the movement in recent years to state, and to require of every teacher, a minimum number of competencies. A teacher's performance, on this view, Downloaded by [University of California, San Diego] at 18:05