Genes, Brains, and Human Potential The Science and Ideology of Intelligence

THE PROB LEMS OF EDUCATION ARE NOT GE NE TIC 335

As with IQ then, which similarly has little if any association with job
per for mance (see chapter 3), educational grading of individuals seems to
have little intrinsic value. Instead the function of both of them is the ide-
ological one of legitimizing and maintaining a specifi c vision of human
potential and, through that, the class structure of society. Th at is what the
expensive hunt for “genes” and “brain structures” related to education is
really about.
Th at is not to say that education per se is not impor tant. Of course,
over thirteen or more years of schooling, we would expect something to
stick. And, indeed, that is the case. Many, if not most, people are grateful
to schooling for their learning of many things. Many from poor back-
grounds have found inspiration in exposure to knowledge resources,
especially in developing countries.
When schooling is an instrument primarily for the identifi cation of
supposed potential, however, it is suppressive of learning anything deeper
than exam fodder. Th en it is usually only identifying social background.
Th is is why the appeal to brain sciences, or to ge ne tic “chips,” in order to
drive children more forcibly yet onto such a treadmill is so worrying.
In contrast, when alternative goals and approaches are attempted,
learners can be highly motivated and schooling highly rewarding. Let us
now have a look at some possibilities.

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION

Most attempts to fi nd alternatives to a crushing curriculum recognize
sources of potential other than genes. Th ey realize how potential emerges
in individuals as dynamical systems functioning in dynamical co ali tions.
Individuals are not encapsulated learning machines. As a review by Yu Yuan
and Bill McKelvey explains, “While the acquisition meta phor of traditional
learning theories stresses the individual mind and what goes ‘into it,’ the
participation meta phor of the situated theory of learning shift s the focus
to the evolving bonds between the individual and others.”^29
Berliner and Glass quote John Dewey, who suggested, quite logically,
that the best preparation for social life was to actually engage in social life.

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