The Incompleteness of Standards and the Potential of/for Deliberative Discourse

Approaching academic standards from a dialogical orientation has significant implications for the normative outcomes of curriculum. Mikhail Bakhtin recognized dialogue as composed of emotional-volitional, axiological perspectives that seek responses from other positions that can embody a space of shared exchange. Entering a discussion, conversation, or testimony with the development of relationships with academic standards as a priority changes the encounter.  Our condition as human presents us each with a choice at every moment and in every place to be present.  We can occupy that space in a manner that is generative of potentiality and opportunity for ourselves and others or in a manner that forecloses those opportunities. What occurs in school and individual classrooms is shaped by the relationship we form with academic standards. It is the intent of this paper to expose the potential of academic standards to serve as carefully constructed public dialogues.