Postblog: March 8, 2008

Just a note on where we are at. Baudrillard's article brought together the threads being woven through the course thus far: the canon, metaphor, simultaneous occurrence, gaps, centrality, difference, social domination, eclecticism, critial theory and simulation. All sounds pretty postmodern to me.

Thought: at a basic level, curriculum is a canon, a set of basis vectors (to use a math term) from which all vectors in a defined space can be constructed. In the case of curriculum, the basis vectors are not specifics, but general lessons. What is common to humanity? Certainly not a common codification scheme (language). Yet, in today's world, we all need to be able to read and write - perhaps the better way to say it is, to be able to construct real meanings with symbols and logic. Basic numerical and combinatorial understandings, and problem solving skills are also important. And, so too are classification skills: behaviour (pattern) recognition. Regardless what is included in the canon, it should address the ability for one to survive in society.

Note: it is possible to change the basis of a vector space, but there is only one absolute basis for any vector space. Many truths vs. absolute truth, again. For a discussion of vector spaces and their bases, see http://mathworld.wolfram.com/VectorSpaceBasis.html.