A Perfect Society posted by Ben

Imagine a future society which is completely fair. Opportunity is defined such that anyone can understand the necessary criteria for success and advancement. Yearly comprehensive exams provide every person with the chance to increase their lot if they have studied diligently or to see their fortunes fall if they have not fully applied themselves to the noble quest for self-improvement. All that you need to do is score well on the test.

How could anything be wrong with this image?

It comes down to a simple question: what materials do the tests cover?

For the sake of argument, let's say that the tests measure ability in reading comprehension, mathematics, practical sciences, logic, and perhaps some history. What basic skill is being tested that underlies each of these categories? The ability to take the test well. And beyond taking the test, where is that skill best applied? Not through the application of the tested skills, but the application of the test-taking skill itself. What is the test really teaching? How to be a good worker whose every effort can be statistically measured, compared, and either rewarded or punished. It's the perfect preparation for life as an office drone, as middle-level management, as a gear in the corporate machine.

Because ultimately, the tests don't measure ability; they measure compliance. They measure willingness to serve without question, without imagination, without innovation. They sap the spirit with the message that success in life depends on success on the test and success in life is defined as living a life where every day is like taking that test.

Would this kind of system be fair? Of course it would be, but only as defined by the system itself. Step outside and you see millions of wage slaves whose only ability is to succeed or fail within the system. To compete against everyone they are surrounded by just for the chance to 'advance' and compete again with higher stakes. There is no winning. There is no ownership of one's work. There is only compliance and indoctrination.

Now let's imagine a society that's not quite so totalitarian. Perhaps a society where working outside the corporate system can bring its own rewards. Perhaps a society like the one we enjoy in America. Now ask yourself, what direction are we going? Who holds the power to make or break careers? To what extent have we already bought into the model of achievement based purely on profits and acceptance of corporate wage-slavery? How many small towns have seen their economies destroyed by Wal*Mart, who then holds the power to control the financial well-being of the entire town? How many people toil away in cubicles on tasks that are repetitive, unfullfilling, and where success is measured by compliance with the script? How many people serving in customer assistance live in fear of the manager who might be listening to the call and who must not deviate from their script, even when to read it is completely illogical? How is it that we have come so far in this land of freedom and opportunity, only to hand the reins of economic control to the soulless corporations for whom any worker is replaceable and to dream is to fail?

And how is it that we have allowed No Child Left Behind to further transform us into that future test-based society, at the expense of creativity, innovation, and the full expression of a life lived with meaningful human contact and noble purpose?