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Abstract
Drawing from Stanley Cavell's distinct understanding of skepticism, this paper first considers current and incessant obsession with notions of or related to ‘educational standards,’ ‘school effectiveness and improvement,’ ‘evidence-based education,’ ‘performance indicators’ and ‘performativity’ in various educational policies and discourses as consequences resulting from our very human desire to overcome or solve skepticism. Insidiously, this has led to the creation of a strict and distinct conception of what a good teacher should be. Ironically, this human desire to overcome skepticism, which led to this particular good teacher model, has ‘dehumanized’ the teacher. In this light, this paper further proposes Cavell's distinction between perfectionism and perfectability as a possible alternative response to this austere ‘good teacher model’ which has dominated discourses on the teaching profession. His discussion on skepticism and moral perfectionism hopefully leads to a more holistic and democratic conception of education and good teaching.
Notes
1. International Network of Philosophers of Education Conference at Universidad de los Andes (Bogota, Colombia/July 2010).
2.http://www.online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577243282490252956.html.
3. Quote by Shael Polakow-Suransky, Department of Education's chief academic officer http://www.online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203918304577243282490252956.html.
4.http://www.gatesfoundation.org/united-states/Pages/measures-of-effective-teaching-fact-sheet.aspx.
5. This case was first encountered in the book ‘Education in an age of nihilism’ by Blake et al. (Citation2000) and was thus researched further by the proponent of this paper.