I quote from an article in EgbertoWillies.com to which I was directed by our own Conrad via a facebook post. Another article which was brought to my attention because I wrote about education is this one. I strongly recommend that you read both the articles which are as applicable to Indians as they are to Americans, and for that matter every thinking person in the world.
“Have you ever wondered why education is under attack? An educated population will come to the realization that the current system that assigned a higher wealth potential value to the movers of capital, to the plutocrats is undeserved and ill-advised. They did not and have not earned it.
As more of the working poor and middle class Americans come to that realization, Nick Hanauer’s fears will be realized. The pitchforks are being sharpened one finger at a time. America is simmering. It’s all covered up now. But it won’t be for much longer.”
Thank you Conrad.
Good post Ramana.
Keith.
Thank you Keith.
Regarding the pitchforks, this is what the plutocrats generally hope for while pretending to fear. In a crony capitalist system, the rage of the mob is harnessed by the populists to go after the shop keepers, who are never the plutocrats. Then the populist leadership works with the plutocrats to come up with a “fix”, which generally enriches the populists, the plutocrats and a certain entitlement class at the expense of the masses. Eventually the masses figure out they have been cheated and go back to their pitchforks, thus the cycle repeats itself.
The key goal of the education system is to make sure that the masses are conditioned to keep this cycle running along efficiently.
Looney recently posted..RRRIIIIINNNNGGGGG! “This is a Red Alert from the Fremont Police Department”
Yes, we are all conditioned. And how!
I think everyone recognizes that the American educational system is a disaster. I’m hoping the availability of online education will help, but clearly things will have to change. A big part of the problem is people have been pushing the idea of a college degree, a credential, not on what kids need to learn. At least the cost of that credential is so expensive now that people are starting to question what’s going on. That’s a start.
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Mud Season
Why only the American? I can’t think of any one anywhere in the world.
The real problem for the middle class will be the increasing sophistication of robots. Economists are starting to worry that robots will destroy more jobs than they will create. It’s aproblem that will need ot be addressed: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/16/upshot/as-robots-grow-smarter-american-workers-struggle-to-keep-up.html?abt=0002&abg=1
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Mud Season
I need a robot that will proofread for me. 😀
Cheerful Monk recently posted..Mud Season
You will get it sooner than later.
And we will go to the original idea of Keynes of a three day work week! http://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/three-day-week
we lost our way i think when we started viewing college degrees as merely ‘a higher wage.’ the golden key to MORE MONEY.
there is no hunger for culture. no thirst for knowlege nor debate. no inclination to understand history or the world today. that’s america now.
it’s all about “how much money can i make?” “i have to have a BA and above before i can buy my mac mansion.” as long as that mindset is what it’s about … i see no hope in any change. learning? wisdom? self actualization? out the window… if they were ever in the room to begin with. i live in a university town. it’s FULL of students. they can barely carry on a conversation. maybe with their own age group… i don’t know. mainly it’s “like then he went hey girl! was’up?” and “i like went insert here a vacuous GIGGLE GIGGLE GIGGLE.”
we are not producing literate or even very interesting people in these overpriced overpaid institutions of learning.
tammy j recently posted..if you still
Even the giggles have now gone with all of them buried in their handheld devices and typing LOLs and IMHOs.
I have been expecting revolution for most of my life. Perhaps the rest of the people who are outraged are as distracted and side-tracked as I am. (And now, perhaps tired.)
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I suspect that we will see the pitchforks out sooner than later.
What is the purpose of education? It is not to get the JOB… as yours only has an MBA 🙂 all B-school talk about their placement! The purpose is to enhance students analytical, creative skills et al http://business2buddha.com/2014/05/10/why-do-we-educate-our-kids/ when that happens automatically people would understand what they are being fed with is at times nothing more than garbage. Even the idea of “Education is under attack” would be analytically weighed by “educated” people 🙂
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Well said Pravin.