I recently found out that the twenty-first century PRofC, they test and give ratings for nearly everything. This blows my mind. A 12 year old student recently had to take a piano test (another, a dancing test), because, "if you don't take the test and get the rating that comes with passing the test, nobody will believe that you can actually play the piano." I was stunned. This strikes me as pure baloney. Nevertheless, the PRofC's unique brand of meritocracy requires such tests, government-backed seals of approval and the like.
I suppose I had long been vaguely aware of this. My cousin-in-law is a dancer with this province's song and dance troupe and he occasionally has tests. By testing at a certain level he can guarantee a higher salary, and other benefits. Similarly, the powers-that-be certify professors at different levels. In the West we often think of these things (particularly the arts) as being unquantifiable, amorphous and the like. You should be judged by your peers, by an audition, or by some other live-and-in-person performance, not simply some body of work or some test approval. Indeed, for us, the arts are not simply a set of tests that you can pass and work your way up the ladder. Nor do we speak of a National A-level professor, who can then apply for more funding or different grants, or can hold positions in other study. Many such A-level professors hold such a bewildering array of positions (head of this and that organization) that you wonder when there's time to teach. But that's a different issue, I suppose. It's not like we don't have mechanisms to judge peoples' accomplishments in the West. They're just different, and having grown up with the one it is difficult to fathom the other. I never took a piano test as a kid, and my limited understanding of the dance world is that it primarily relies on auditions. It appears less scientific, I am sure that there are significant backroom maneuverings. These are the sorts of issues that the PRofC is actively trying to avoid given the long-standing outcry against graft, but it makes you wonder where the innovation and expression that are inherently part of arts and academia can thrive if you're always worried about the next test (see also the debate on standardized
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About TimAs you can see elsewhere on this webpage, I conduct research on ethnic minorities in western China. This blog offers semi-academic musings on the minutiae of daily life out here--the sort of information otherwise destined for footnotes. Categories |