Assessment

In two weeks from today, I will fly down to Stockholm and have lunch with Ally before taking the train to Örebro for the last meeting of the course that I have been taking this semester. In preparation for this, I have completed the final course assignment, which consisted of making a complete assessment of a teaching portfolio – in this case, a portfolio written by someone applying for promotion to a permanent position at a technical university. Assessing someone who works in a different field really helps when it comes to focusing on the pedagogical side rather than the subject matter.

Meanwhile, the last days of protests in China seem to have calmed down a bit in reaction to greater police presence and colder weather. It is hard to imagine how much courage it must have taken for people to join these protests, especially as the prospects of real change remain so low. After all, admitting that you were wrong is not a big thing among leaders in authoritarian societies –  or in democracies for that matter – but in the latter, it is at least possible for the people to elect new leaders and thus facilitate institutional learning.

While “zero-covid” may have made some sense at some point, in an age of Omicron, it is wholly unsustainable (something we have all known for many months now). Although the Chinese government today announced the easing of some restrictions (which, in turn, will undermine the zero-covid policy even further), a fundamental reorientation would signal that political change can be accomplished through protests, which is obviously a very dangerous message to send for an authoritarian regime. All of this reminds me that human fallibility and the possibilities of learning should really be at the forefront of our arguments for democracy. Even if initially correct at some point, authoritarian leaders will inevitably invest so much prestige in their decisions that, over time, they lose touch with reality.