This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
How Inferior American Education Caused Credit/Real Estate/Sovereign Debt Bubbles & Why It's Preventing True Recovery, Part 1
This is part 1 of a lengthy, highly provovative article illustrating in
explicit detail my thoughts on how America's inferior education system
made the Great Recession not only a foregone conclusion of indoctrinated
GroupThink, but prevents a true recovery from recovery due to the
abject fear of price clearing. You may need to put your thinking caps on
and exercise some patience and restraint with this one. I am going to
follow it up with an explcit example of said groupthink by going against
the conventional grain (yet again) and pointing out what many in the
mainstream consider to be the most likely threat to economic prosperity
in 2012 (and no, Iran is not even in the running on this one). I blame
indoctrinated GroupThink for the inability of Wall Street to see the
excessive coniferous expanse due to treebark blindness! Until the next
post, though...
Dubois Speaks Through Me
The problem is
plain before you. Here is a situation transplanted through the criminal
foolishness of those gifted and/or empowered with the productive assets
created and cultivated by our fathers. Whether you like it or not this
country constitutes hundreds of millions of the diverse plethora that is
America. They are already here, and here they will remain. If you do
not enable the mechanisms that allow them to lift themselves up (versus
the socialistic path of trying to lift all up), they will simply pull
you down. Access to (and not the socialistic gifting of) productive
assets (wealth) and knowledge, combined with the teaching of individuals
to build strength of character are the means to which accomplish this.
Physical
and/or mental labor (the staple of the working class) alone will not do
it unless inspired by the right ideals and guided by intelligence and
knowledge. Academic education alone will do little, for look at many of
our brothers and sisters who are highly degreed, yet have a lower
standard of living, lower general level of happiness and less inflation
adjusted net wealth than their parents despite living in a age that
fosters greater access to technology and resources. Successful education
must not simply teach work, or instruct one on how to labor for the
capitalist oligarchy — it must teach Life.
The Truly Talented of
this country who are not extant members of the oligarchy must be made
leaders of thought and missionaries of culture. No others can (or will
honestly) do this work. We must train agents for in the education system
– for the existing oligarchy not only benefits from the teaching of
labor/work as the embodiment of success, but cannot truly exist without
such for it is cheap labor that enables the oligarchy to amass
disproportionate wealth at the expense of the working class - literally
profiting off of the backs of others. To be honest, this is the way of
capitalism. It is understandable and acceptable, but only to the point
to which those laborers willingly accept their position. Once it comes
to the point of attempting to force said laborers into their laborious
positions through duplicity and guile, we not only foster the
misallocation of valuable American resources (human, social and
economic) but we squander what could be sown and fostered to make
America a better and more competitive country, thus putting the great
empire at risk of collapse for the betterment of the very few. America,
like all great establishments, was created, and is going to be saved by
its exceptional heroes – or collapsed due to the lack thereof!
W.E.B. Du Bois, 1903 channeled through Reggie Middleton 2012
The Hole
The Challenge to Our Schools, Educators, and Parents
What
America needs now is a system of education that does not simply teach
academics and create a slave army of rule followers. We need to teach
rule breakers and rule makers. We need to teach charisma. This is how
leaders are made, while a focus on pure academics is how followers are
groomed. We have to teach our children about life, and the
world around us. We need to teach them how the world actually works, and
test these teachings in the real world regularly in order to “mark our
curriculum to market”. In this fashion, if any of our teachings are
false or too theoretical, their failings in the world marketplace will
allow us to correct course before our students are ruined by a pile of irrelevant academia, or even worse – flat out erroneous information and false knowledge.
Unfortunately, from pre-school to the higher echelons of ivory tower academia, I fear this is where we are right now - our
students are being ruined by a pile of irrelevant academia, or even
worse – flat out erroneous information and false knowledge.
These
precepts may appear somewhat applicable to children of all
socio-economic stratification levels (social classes), though they are
particularly endemic to those in the lower rungs, which prevents the
social mobility that is needed to keep this country fresh, alive,
vibrant and competitive.
I envision an educational system that
articulates a clear philosophy on the proper behavior of American
children: "to teach them delicately a code of honor and action in their
relation with other children and adults of different backgrounds; to
turn their hurts and resentments into emulations, ambition and love of
their own environments and companions; to point out the best amusements
and joys and worth-while things of life; to inspire them to prepare for
definite pursuits of wealth AND social accomplishment, not merely jobs,
occupations, or careers, and to conduct these duties with a broad spirit
of philanthropic sacrifice".
I pray you, tell me, is this what you were taught in school? Is this what your children are being taught in school?
At the very least, have as the base of every academic curriculum:
- The current application of popular and nascent technologies
- The definition, meaning, and pursuit of wealth
- Class consciousness
- Philanthropy – what it is, and how it furthers one’s cause
- Legacy
building and the 100 Year Plan – the creation of immortality:
perpetuating one’s family, family ideology, wealth, and knowledge
through a minimum of 5 generations. - Modern Politics and Power Structure – what is powerful, who is powerful, and why? How did they get their? How to replace them?
- Geo-political structures and power flows – What is the world, who’s in it, and where you stand in the grand scheme of things.
In
DuBois’ missive claiming that the advancement of Blacks depended on the
training of exceptional men who would lead the masses, (academic)
education was prioritized. I’m confident that he erred in this
assessment, although in his time it appeared as if he came to a logical,
if erroneous conclusion. DuBois assumed that (academic) education was
the primary cause of wealth and power in the US. I have found this to be
less than accurate. There is a link between education and
socio-economic success, but that link is less defined and more tenuous
than DuBois realized. If academic education (as was and currently is
consumed by the masses) was the primary goal to pursue, it is painfully
obvious today that it is but a tertiary goal. Wealth, followed by
motivated class consciousness are the two goals that, if achieved will
uplift those captured in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder of
success.
So, What is the Single Biggest Failing of Today’s Education System Curriculum???
This
article assumes that parents send their children to school to better
themselves through education. If that is truly the case, then please
heed what follows.
The Power Elite documented the social
backgrounds and career trajectories of the people who occupied the
highest posts in what the sociologist, C. Wright Mills saw as
the institutional hubs of power in postwar America: the corporations,
the executive branch of the federal government, and the military. While
many of his contemporaries were busy singing the praises of pluralism in
what they perceived to be a relatively classless society, Mills, less
sanguine, dismissed as absurd the idea that there was no elite. Those
who believed otherwise were uninformed or deluding themselves (and
others) typically for self-serving reasons.
Having confirmed the
existence of a “ruling stratum,” Mills proceeded to describe the
characteristics of the people involved in decisions of national
consequence.
He found the members of the power elite had
strikingly similar social origins. They fruitfully used vast resources
and insular social ties to move across the three institutional
hierarchies in both formal and informal capacities (references to the alumni of the Great Vampire Squid are nigh impossible to avoid).
Once
again, the giant financial firm lives up to its reputation as “the
vampire squid.” The Muckety database includes 697 once-removed
connections from Goldman to other Fortune 1000 firms. The map above
shows links of Goldman Sachs directors. Click the graphic to access the
Muckety DB.
The result was (and in my oh so humble opinion, still
is) a robust web of entitlement. Mills concluded that the high and
mighty at mid-century were almost all Christian white males who mostly
came from the “upper third of the income and occupational pyramids.”
Their fathers were “at least of the professional and business strata,
and very frequently higher than that.”
The circle remained
exclusive because real influence, for Mills, was located not in
individuals (where it should be for that would release true creative and
productive energies from said individual into greater society), but in
their access to the “command of major institutions…the necessary bases
of power, of wealth, and of prestige.”
Simply put, the powerful
can and do make use of their resources to set favorable terms by which
to safeguard their position at the top. C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite (New York: Oxford University Press, 1956), 9.
On
the uninformed: “In America today there are in fact tiers and ranges of
wealth and power of which people in the middle and lower ranks know
very little and may not even dream.” The Power Elite, 12.
On the perspective of elites about their own motives: “American men of
power tend, by convention, to deny that they are powerful. No American
runs for office in order to rule or even govern, but only to
serve….Nowadays, such postures have become standard features of the
public-relations programs of all men of power.”
If you cannot wait for the rest to be published on ZH, you can preview parts two and three on my site now and part 4 and 5 will be published soon.
- advertisements -
I'll support this claim by pointing to Affirmative Action in the late 80s, which was rebranded in the 90s as "Diversity".
IMHO, it a very real and true presence.
White kids are hella stupid nowadays, just like your blacks. I won't speak for asians, I don't know many.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guJ5oxPPKGs
Video for 2009 Sony stockholders meeting. Major changes need to be done or even the edge in STEM education is going away.
Present company excluded, likely not one percent of the 99% could explain the coniferous expanse from an arboreal perspective much less the economic metaphor.
As a former "educator" in the American public school system (teacher, adminstrator, bureaucrat), I don't think Reggie really gets it. First of all, exactly what is it inferior too?
Not to defened the American system: I quit after 20 years becasue I think it's abysmal and getting worse, not better. The real problem is that the American school system has never really been an education system, it's a sorting system. Same everywhere. Guess what: in the pre-industrial period, public school sorting systems weren't even really needed. Get ready for that again.
Real public "education" would be disruptive to the status-quo. Will never happen.
I suggest reading
Getting It Wrong from the Beginning: Our Progressivist Inheritance from Herbert Spencer, John Dewey, and Jean Piaget by Kieran Egan of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC.The educational system IS NOT a sorting system... it's an egalitarian model that attempts to make doctors out of even the downsiest of students. If it was actually sorting anyone out, then how is there a student loan bubble? If it was actually sorting students into the jobs of the present and future, then why the shit is basketweaving still a class? (although, it's probably a shit ton more practical than most).
It's not a sorting system, it's a puffing system... one where you pay someone a lot of money to put feathers up your ass and pretend you're a chicken. And when you finally figure out you're not a chicken, you've got a lot of debt and nothing to show for it (other than some unpleasant feathers). Everyone can't be an astronaut.
The only thing you get with this type of system is the first 2 years of undergraduate study going to remedial courses... and state lottery hail marys to pay for it.
They not really be chickens, but we need the eggs.
I was talking about K-12, specifically. The model broke when the industrial production jobs were supplanted by automated manufacturing and later outsourcing to Asia. The college track was initially (I think) an attempt to re-tune the model for all the jobs that were going to require post-high school training (ha! ha!). Of course college just became another debt-serf scheme like everything else. In the meantime, important trade occupations that couldn't be outsourced languished as "middle class" came to be synonomous with "college educated" - and pretty much "worthless," as you point out with your basket weaving example.
The egalitarian mantle of public education is a sham. The emporer has no clothes whatsoever in this regard. Further commercialization of public "education" will result in further McDonaldization of outcomes. I guess there is an egalitarian aspect there: pretty much anybody in America who wants a Big Mac can get one.
What does K-12 sort? It's literally nothing but a baby sitter. The only education one receives in public school is a social education (please take note all you home-schoolers). K-12 school guidance counselors, just like their college counterparts, stuff the kids full of feathers...
A sorting system would actually be the result of a functioning educational system... it would mean that resources were not as wasted (either on educating the hopelessly lost or by pushing people into the wrong areas of study). [and the educational infrastructure along with it]. As deleveraging continues, this is exactly what will happen.
PS, outsourcing wasn't just to asia ;)
I don't disagree with you: the American public school system is a broken sorting mechanism, and the sorting it was designed to produce doesn't happen and can't happen anymore. It is now primarily a child warehousing opperation. However, I don't think an effective public education system would sort individuals; they would sort themselves.
State education is inferior to normal, natural, parenting
I agree completely. As an Oregon State bureaucrat I witnessed many, many examples of excellent home-schooling in the region I "served." Similarly, there were some examples of absolute neglect passed off as "home schooling."
Interestingly, the state LOVED home schooling and made it as easy as possible. To remain in good standing with the state, all home school families had to do was to demonstrate that their children scored above the bottom 15 percentile in state testing. Talk about raising the bar. It's easy to understand why Oregon loved home schooling: home scool families paid state taxes and the state didn't provide them any education services - other than me to keep track of their paper work.
The more centralized and standardized the American schooling system becomes, the worse it is.
State education is not inferior but is supplemental. Primary education comes from the parents at least it should. Therein lies the problem with today's society. Parents not taking responsibility--that is if there are parents (note the plural) usually ends up as parent (singular). Until that is understood and corrected, it will only get worse, because you cannot legislate education, aka all the government programs.
Good luck finding the needed amount of time to do a proper job. I get home at 5:30, we eat by 6.. done by 7, kids to bed by 8. That leaves what amount of time exactly to have a formal, significant, moment of time to add to this? I have to do this (home schooling) on the weekends inbetween the rat race tasks that I have to do because I can't do those during the week.
We, as humans, need to work less and focus on the family unit more so we can progress as a populace. If I had an extra 5 hours to sit with my children and offer them extra schooling the way that I know how they understand things...well, I can only imagine how many millions of children would benefit equally from their own parents having the time to do the same. Faster education, better education, more intelligent people, better technology sooner.. oh well.. we can dream.
Not as far as the minions of the state are concerned. They won't rest until every last child is dumbed down to their level.
See, for them, that's a far superior position. Otherwise, these kids will leave them in the dust, taking all of their jobs (or eliminating them) to boot.
Nothing scares them more than an educated populace.
I agree with your premise here completely RM. We are surrounded by those who cannot (or will not) think for themselves, and the Asians are going to eat our lunch, eventually, if we do not reform the US education system top to bottom. This whole sleight of hand thing backed by our military cannot last forever. This is a refreshing change from Squid hunting with a native spear, although that does have its own merits. You should add that pic to your set of slides for your next speaking engagement LOL.
I think a two tiered system would work great. One side set up like a juvenile detention facility for those bound for our prisons and wal-mart careers and another a magnet school concept for those wanting to compete in the global economy.
we have your two tiered system already. We have white and asian dominated schools. These are always the "good schools."
then we have black and hispanic schools and these are invariably the "failing schools." They are that way because their students are failures.
Hubris.
Because their parnets are failuers, becaures their parents were failures, because their parnets were sharecroppers, because their parnets were slaves.
Is there an easy way out? Do I want repriations? No and no. But let's face the facts- blacks never had a chance.
The last time I passed through LA I came in on the 210 freeway and it was a revelation. We as Americans are frantically chasing our tails -- our dream -- and from that particular perspective it was obvious that the better part of us and our activities are shear, frenetic lunacy. Nothing much of what I saw made any sense at all; it was a mad grab for bank credit. That is hardly anyway to live a life. If the Chinese 'eating our lunch' means they beat us at what I witnessed that day, well let 'em. Spam is the lead item on that menu.
Otherwise, Reggie, a thoughtful and sincere effort on your part. Thanks.
Reggie if have time read this and I'll stop by your site for 2 & 3 later. You are dead on and this being done in Finland but the chances of it happening here is 0. The cyclepaths are encharge and they only want to raise more cyclepaths.
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/
Good luck w/ this premise.
the US Public Education system is DESIGNED to churn out barely-literate workers of equal ability and common thought and the Dept of Education is careful to snuff out critical thinking skills ande works hard to stamp out creativity and individuality.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm
Looks like you hurt somebody's feelings there, MC. Probably one of those teachers who can't discern the difference between their own efforts and the system, so they strike out at you instead.
Which is funny, since one would hope a teacher would be empathic enough that this mistake wouldn't happen.
Thanks to the work of Mr. Gatto, at least one of my kids is fortunate enough to have escaped the indoctrination center for gang warfare. I have all of his books, made a donation for his documentary, and have bought tickets to give away when he has spoken in my town.
Simply put, the man is a saint.
How about those PISA scores reported in the NYT?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/education/07education.html?pagewanted=all
I keep telling people that they would need at least $100 million to understand what Broke Truely is in America!
looks or sounds like you have figured out just how true that statement is Reggie!
God Bless You and Yours!!
No, Reggie. It's the system that's the problem. What individuals (not "America") need are feasible choices for their child's education, not governed by busy-bodies looking for a paycheck.
If you're not familiar with the work of John Taylor Gatto, please look him up. IMO, there is not a better resource on the demise of public education.
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/
He's collected some interesting information. What he doesn't realize is that quoting out of context weakens his argument rather than strengthens it. He could make his point more strongly if he tied together his quotes, each presented in full context.
It's easier to control DUMB debt slaves who just consume on credit as instructed and who don't question such as the NDAA too crirically?
+100
You beat me to it. Here is one of his better talks. The best 1 hour you'll ever spend.
Give it a listen, you'll thank me (and NotApplicable)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UadPqGscfI John Taylor Gatto, The Scientific Management of Children
HOLY CRAP!!! you don't need any more than the first 5 mins of this video to have a V8 moment. I'm 6 mins in.. I can't wait to hear the rest.
+1000
Also highly recommended by myself.
The quote from President Woodrow Wilson alone is worth the price of viewing the video. Which is nothing (in the scope of things) but a few moments of your time to find truth.
Hit me up sometime nmewn... seems we run in the same circle :-)
my username @ gmail.
-Peace
In da box.
I don't understand how everything, considering it is based on lies and complacency, is still functioning. Some one please fill me in, thanks.
-LH
I know you are being rhetorical b/c you are far too versed in this shit show yourself to be serious.
That said, I am now more convinced than ever it's through conditioning... most people go years without having a single thought that wasn't placed there for them... including the notion that they are free because they can spend their weekends drinking beer and watching football. Think about that... not a single original thought in years or tens of years.
That is, IMHO, the sad truth. Without original thinking, people are only a herd. And we are managed like one.
I am convinced that much of our "education" system is to install compliant, politically correct, less capable intellectuals into positions of power. They are easily manipulable by the elites. Win for them, lose for the average folk.
It's all a conspiracy by the Brawndo corporation.
I'm just sayin'....I can't believe where we are, I mean, I can line up all the conditioning, implementation, etc, but still, humans have so much potential, and here we lie, in our graves. It is mindboggling that this ship continues without sinking with the hole in the hull.
I couldn't agree more.
I think it was fellow zh'er Sean7K who wrote the following... it was so elegant that I copied it for a rainy day. It bears repeating here:
"In this whole world filled with an infinity of variables, where butterfly wings in Beijing create storms in the midwest, where every single human live lives of unique experiences- how is it that history continues to repeat itself? If every choice creates a new future and everyone makes different choices- why are the results always the same?
Where is the evolution of thought? Why are we stuck on the same questions pondered by the Greeks and others? Why has society remained the same for the last ten thousand years? Systems of slaves and masters.
History repeats itself because the world is controlled and manipulated for the benefit of a special class. Religions become tools. Politics become tools. Economics become tools. Science becomes a tool. Education becomes a tool.
When the end result of all our technology, learning and philosophy is a failure to develop liberty and fulfillment or worse, the complete and utter intransience of a social system that has all the hallmarks of slavery being perpetuated forever, should we not question whether there is a source point that controls humanity?"
Because the elites learned that we are easy to control by appeals to emotion rather than reason.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0OrT-8gXMs
Fuck'n A
Fuck'n Amen!
Inertia.
Once in motion, it can stay in motion (in one direction) for a very long time.
Only now is it encountering some...friction ;-)
"Inertia.
Once in motion, it can stay in motion (in one direction) for a very long time.
Only now is it encountering some...friction ;-)"
In other words if the train is heavy enough and fast enough it can skid along the rails for quite a while after the wheels fall off.
The motion is a lie. We are not moving. There is no such thing as an economy. It is build on lies that the Fiat Ponzi has any value. There is no inertia because it was never moving in the first place.
But the lie does support both war & welfare. We have less of both if we refute the lie. People really need to wrap their heads around this and decide which direction we're gonna go.
Myself, I'm getting tired of waiting ;-)
OT :
Android's Market Share Collapses As Apple Surges Thanks To The iPhone 4S Jay Yarow|Jan. 9, 2012, 3:07 PM|http://static5.businessinsider.com/assets/images/icons/icons.png); background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; color: #f3502a; background-position: -200px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;" title="views">1,863|23Stunning data from NPD: Apple'siPhonesales nearly matchedAndroidsales in October and November in the U.S.
As you can see Android has 47% of the market compared to Apple's 43%. That is a dramatic change from the third quarter when Android had 60% of the market to Apple's 26%.
Of course, in the third quarter, consumers were waiting for a new iPhone. AfterApplereleased the iPhone 4S, people went nuts buying iPhone 4Ss, helping Apple narrow the gap.
Another thing to note: Analysts have believed thatVerizoncustomers have been waiting on a new iPhone since February. Many skipped buying aniPhone 4on Verizon under the assumption that Apple was about to release a new iPhone that made the iPhone 4 look old.
Once Apple released its latest and greatest phone on Verizon,Sprint, and AT&T, it gave Apple a more level playing field in the U.S. from a market share perspective.
Unless Android phones sold like crazy in December, Apple could have finally made a significant dent in Android's skyrocketing market share.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/ios-android-2012-1#ixzz1j08iO3f3
RM : interesting trend on IOS vs Android.
As per your article on educaction :
Very nice article RM and very thought provoking. You are basically repeating the catch phrase of Steve Jobs legacy when Apple was just a smart, small company that i loved; before IPods days : think different.
I loved those Apple ads, and it basically says what you recommend. Be outside the group think and be innovative and value systems oriented, think sustainable growth, blend ethical lifestyle with new frontiers.
Work cut out for first world educational cultural revolution/paradigm change.
Yes, Reggie has been dead wrong about Apple, no need to rub it in, that is my job.
Great minds think alike. I was wrong about Apple too.
and mine :)