McEducation
“There is an assumption that western education, western knowledge, is something that is superior…there is an idea that we have evolved to a higher level of being, and that these people, however lovely the are, they’re going to benefit from this superior knowledge.” Helena Norberg-Hodge
Standardization “Works”(?)
McDonald’s is one of the most successful corporations in the history of the world. They are now present in 121 countries and experience “lackluster” earnings of $28.1 billion in 2013. By any superficial measure of success, McDonald’s is there.
And how did they do this?
By instituting a highly managed process of standardization that insures that a Big Mac in Vietnam tastes exactly like a Big Mac in New York.
From Citizendium: “The standardized McDonald’s hamburger has meat that weighs 1.6 ounces (45 grams) and measures 3 and 5/8 inches (9.2cm) across; and is garnished with a quarter of an ounce of chopped onion, a teaspoon of mustard, a tablespoon of ketchup and a pickle slice one inch in diameter. The Big Mac is likewise standardized with two patties and a sauce.”
Why does this work?
Again, from Citizendium: “Ritzer (2000) argues that McDonald’s has succeeded so well because it offers consumers, workers, and managers a maximum degree of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control through non-human technology.”
McDonald’s “works” because it has a standardized set of processes which increase predictability, efficiency and control, and decreases as much as McEducation | educarenow:
