A "Winning" Idea?

After watching Langdon Winner's Internet clip about the future of education, it became obvious that his ideas aren't so far fetched, unfortunately. Winner's parody is ultimately all too real. When Langdon compares distance learning to an ATM, education can be thought of strictly as a commodity. We, as students, are the consumers, but is our satisfaction really guaranteed? In The Handwriting on the Wall: Resisting Technoglobalism's Assault on Education, Winner says, "Another strategy of cost-cutting is simply to computerize more and more of the activities of education. Innovations here arrive under a variety of glamorous labels - - interactive learning, distance learning, the virtual classroom, and the like, but the ultimate result is always the same: replacing people with technology. To an increasing extent, information machines now convey the texts, lectures, lesson, exams and the like, becoming the real media for downsizing and outsourcing in the education industry. As such innovations proliferate, conventional schools and colleges face the distinct possibility that the "services" they provide will be taken over by high tech "alternative service providers" in the commercial sector."
Langdon jokingly defines education as the "transfer of knowledge from point A to point B." Although he says this in jest, this is yet another comment that hits too close to reality. I recently saw that a public school in Florida is offering teachers bonuses based upon how well their classes perform on the mandatory state standardized tests. Is this what education has come to, teaching to the test? If that's the case, Winner's automated professor machine will be in high demand in the not so far off future.
Hopefully, as Winner has suggested, "teachers might raise their hands and announce: Excuse me! On whose authority has the future been foreclosed? Who decided that one peculiar model of a global economy, is the only one possible? Why must we accept this misshapen vision of the human prospect? And who decided that the changes ahead lie beyond our ideas, voices and participation? We watch in stunned amazement at the naked effrontery of initiatives launched in the name of "globalism," "flexible production," "free trade," "reengineering," "total quality," "interactivity," "distance learning," "wired education," and "the virtual classroom". We've discussed these bizarre agendas with our students and, frankly, they are not much impressed. In fact, the students insist on being included in the discussions, plans and decisions about what the future holds. As their friends and scholarly mentors, we are committed to working with them to realize their dreams for a better world. Now, show us our place at the table."