Core abilities? What are they? Whom do they benefit? Um, why does this sound like a religious creed? Especially when you add the word "mission".
Where did the concept of "core abilities" come from? Who created this idea? Why?
What is the purpose of the concept of "core abilities"? When was its inception?
Again, who benefits? And, how come it's such a big thing in ed these days?
Core Abilities: Bringing the Mission to the Classroom
A book, a pamphlet, it's something by Judith Neill, Project Director for the Wisconsin Instructional Design System.
It chills me to the bone. Whose mission? For what purpose? Why is it in the classroom?
I do admire the race of ants. They have a certain collective intelligence and consciousness.
Humans, I'd like to think, humans are not ants ... yet. There is a certain advantage sometimes in collective intelligence and thinking and consciousness but ... humans are individuals.
Aren't they?
The first dictum derived from the what is meant to be inoffensive "Core Abilities: Bringing the Mission to the Classroom" is:
1. WORKING PRODUCTIVELY -- "an individual possesses and applies effective work habits and attitudes within an organizational setting." (Mielke)
Working productively is enlarged: Means that an individual possesses and applies effective work habits and attitudes within a classroom setting to 1. Manages time and work load., 2. Recognizes and applies quality standards in performance, 3. Handles responsibility in a dependable manner, 4. Carries out instructions.
Other skills are required, of course, learning ability, communication skills, working cooperatively, acting responsibly, fine skills to be sure, but apparently only in service to God Almighty "Working Productively".
I like the final skill, Thinking Critically and Creatively, but again, this is in service to "Working Productively".
I do not think of myself as an Ayn Randian sort of individualist. I am not interested in ruggedly standing alone, unhelped for the sake of being unhindered by petty social concerns. I benefit because of the society of humans. I stand tall upon hundreds of thousands of years of human endeavor. It wouldn't hurt me in the least to apply myself to "working productively" for the benefit of others as well as of myself. I owe something to human society. I have a certain debt to repay to the world. But I am not an ant to be trained to work productively for a corporation, for raw profit.