Captalism Doesn't Sleep

in our experience working with various elementary schools for over 16 years now, often kids who "don't fit in" at public school are in the private schools.
There are a couple of "chains" of schools that do consistently churn out very high achievers, but those are the ones that are prohibitively expensive and more "selective" shall we say.
Most of the other private schools we deal with have the social and emotional "misfits" comprising 50% or better of the kids.
Honestly, some of the kids I have encountered at private schools are some of the most bewilderingly stupid kids I've ever encountered.

 

Teaching is like any other profession, some will be better at it than others, but I think the emphasis on standardized testing is one of the biggest factors in keeping teachers from doing their jobs well. It isn't fair to lay the blame on teachers when they are given no freedom to exercise creativity and passion within their own classroom.

 

Once again a thread falls into a bunch of personal bullshit. WTF folks. Please, by all means mark this as a win. You have totally defeated me, what will I ever do now?

It's also pretty obvious that as a centrist I will only be seen as a GOP stooge by the way the fuck out there hard left. And the personal shit about my kids, THAT'S classy. Keep it up, maybe we'll some day have a civilized discussion. But not here it seems. I'm quite disappointed and ashamed of some of this. All I care about are the children.

And yes, one of the ways schools fail us all is the one-size-fits-all approach. But that doesn't matter, sink or swim (which sounds very republican to be coming from some of you).

Again, I admit utter defeat on this issue and whomever wants to claim it as a win, pat yourself on the back for me. I'll be off whipping myself for daring to have an opinion.

 

Writer

This is always amuses me that it seems to be those that sing the virtues of working hard seem to be the first to give up when put under the slightest pressure.

Can you explain why you believe yourself to be a ‘centrist’ because I’m sorry to say it isn’t as obvious as you seem to think?

But it wasn’t us that brought up your kids as a point in your argument that seemed on reflection rather flawed and once again righteous indignation seems to be used to try and hide those flaws.

And the thing is if you wish to improved children’s education overall why would you wish to promote things (like the voucher system) that could undermine that?

You would need to explain your thinking here.

LOL smug sarcasm doesn’t hid the fact you seem to be running away when asked to defend your opinions from criticism

 

The thing is that capitalism is so embedded that it is very difficult to think of any other way of doing things, but it could I suppose be ‘breed’ out of human consciousness but it has to be remembered there can be many forms of ‘capitalism’ from no bar anarcho-capitalism to heavily regulated and distributive social capitalism.

The consumerist capitalism that has been prevalent in many western countries over the last 100 years or so is I think likely to come to an end as it depended a lot on a widely and reasonably waged population willing and capable of buying mass produced good. But with automation and computerisation increasing and inequality growing there is likely to be a tipping point where the old consumerist capitalism just willing not be able to carry on. What replaces it is unclear we could return to the lords and serfs economic model or a social capitalistic model, but whatever it is a largely unwaged society will be very different from today.

 

Sadly we seem to be heading more in the direction of neo-feudalism than any kind of socialized or socialist model.

My guess is that once the oil is all gone it will all fall apart. Also population increase, climate change and a host of other factors very inconvenient for the would be new feudal lords will probably lead to change we can't really even imagine at present.

'Business as usual' in the long term seems very unlikely.

 

We can look to nations where capitalism has already been replaced; and yes feudalism comes to mind.

unwaged, yes, or coupons, where any salary has no value and the food is rationed.

Where doctors earn less than black market entrepuners

A klepto cycle of confiscation and distribution. Where the rule of law holds no sway. There is no security for life or ones possessions.

 

Many people thought that the 2008 financial crash would be a wakeup call and people would realise the stupidity of following the free market/neoliberal policies that had brought it about.

The problem was that people just didn’t realise how bad it could have been – because at the moment of neo-liberal failure governments dusted off Keynes and stopped the slide into what could have been a greater depression than that in the 1930’s.

But once the crisis was over in the corporate/financial sector Keynes was once more banished and vilified and the free market/neoliberal chorus started up again.

As such there will be another fall and at the moment governments around the world are in such a bad state after saving the system last time (or falling for the neoliberal pipedream) that it’s unlikely they could save it again.

 

Maybe the solution is not so much rigidly replacing a system with another, but adjusting it by incorporating practical elements of other 'systems'/isms.

Which nations were you thinking of?

 

MeAgain

Sweden was often cited my neoliberals as the a successful ‘free market’ approach to education that is until it hit the rocks
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[SIZE=14pt]'It's a political failure': how Sweden's celebrated schools system fell into crisis [/SIZE]

International ratings have plummeted and inequality is growing after raft of changes including introduction of voucher system

“Pisa is the modern measure of a nation’s educational success and between 2000 and 2012 Sweden’s Pisa scores dropped more sharply than those of any other participating country, from close to average to significantly below average.

In the most recent Pisa assessment, in 2012, Sweden’s 15-year-olds ranked 28th out of 34 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries in maths, and 27th in both reading and science, significantly below their Nordic neighbours.

Morale among teachers is low, there are concerns about unqualified teaching staff, discipline in some schools is poor and according to a damning report published by the OECD last month, the system is in need of “urgent change”….Fridolin,[ Sweden education minister] who has a degree in teaching, says not only have scores in international tests gone down, inequality in the Swedish system has gone up. “This used to be the great success story of the Swedish system,” he said. “We could offer every child, regardless of their background, a really good education. The parents’ educational background is showing more and more in their grades.

“Instead of breaking up social differences and class differences in the education system, we have a system today that’s creating a wider gap between the ones that have and the ones that have not.”


[SIZE=11pt]http://www.theguardi...ilure-education[/SIZE]

 

I noticed the other day that sub-prime mortgages are making a comeback. It's like greed has these people by the balls to the extent that they do indeed live in a pipedream world.

When the next crash comes, it's going to be a real mess.

 

I'm skeptical about how you propose to get there from here, at least in a country like the United States, in our lifetimes or the foreseeable future. You seem to be talking about Liberation Theology which has made some headway in Latin America and other parts of the world as a political movement under Fr. Gutiérrez, Archbishop (now Saint) Oscar Romero, et al.( http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/topics/l/liberation-theology/ http://www.uscatholic.org/culture/social-justice/2010/01/do-you-hear-cry-poor-liberation-theology-today ) I agree that there was a strong message of support for the poor, condemnation of the rich, and a call for social justice in earliest Christianity. As you say, the theme of Social Justice is strong in the Old Testament, and Jesus stands in a long line of Jewish prophets who spoke truth to power and championed the poor and rejects of society. Your also right that the message has become lost in many churches that call themselves Christians. When we hear Leviticus today, we probably think of the prohibition against homosexuality, because we never hear all of the passages about our duties to the poor. But Christianity that we know has changed, as you acknowledge. It seems to have been turned on its head by Constantine in the 4th century, and transformed into a prop for the political and socioeconomic establishment.. There are encouraging signs from some Christian leaders today, like Pope Francis, in championing the poor, but he has his work cut out for him. As for non-capitalism, are you talking Bernie Sanders? The best examples of democratic socialism in the world to date are the Scandanavian countries, which are pretty secular and have their own social problems, including racism. I doubt that we could implement anything like that in this country without a dramatic cultural, social and political revolution, which would probably require some apocalyptic catastrophe--as likely to produce a Road Warriors scenario or an ISIS-style Caliphate as a free, democratic and socially just society. I didn't mention the so-called People's Democracies (China, Cuba, Viet nam, North Korea), which is what many think of when you mention anti-capitalist revolution--neither Christian, nor democratic, nor free, nor just. And it's not clear at all that Jesus and His followers were mainly interested in political revolution , at least not of the direct, confrontational kind. You'd certainly have a hard time selling that view of Jesus to most of the 83% of Americans who say they're Christians, especially in the Bible Belt, although Liberation Theology has made a credible attempt. Short of that, you might be interested in the Progressive Christian churches, where the Social Gospel movement of the previous century still has a following in the UCC, Disciples of Christ, Methodist, Episcopal and other liberal congregations.
http://www.onbeing.org/blog/connecting-dots-social-gospel-movement-changes-afoot-today/4167
http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/progressiverevival/2008/12/rick-warren-and-the-social-gos.html
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07032009/profile2.html

They might seem a bit tepid, though, for the revolutionary effort you seem to espouse.

 

I understand we all walk according to our understanding and walk how we are convinced. Me personally, I am sure that try as we might we will not get "there from here" unless we submit ourselves to the governance of the creator and do so in his spirit. I am also convinced that his will for justice and peace on earth will go forward wether or not an individual takes that side of carrying it out. I am also convinced that it is the creator working through man that will accomplish this. Tt will be done by individuals operating collectively in his spirit (justice, courage, patience, long-suffering, wisdom and knowledge etc)

I am happy to hear you recognize justice found in the legislation and teachings of the bible, and that you know in the scriptures there are far more weightier matters for nations, societies, economies and more than just pious superstitions that is mostly dolled out of it. I know that one need not label oneself and still justice and a meditation of the heart can work toward bringing in peace. A conversion of the heart must take place, a exercising of the conscious mind before a change. This can take a while, it is a process and can't be done by saying magic words. Knowledge helps immensely and a true education is mostly up to you and outside the empire (to speak broadly).

As far as how the process will look, it's hard to say. It will happen and has been happening. I believe the creator is already crumbling the Western economies and learning from how he works in time past with nations, I expect a similar process: one where men and woman of God stand up and act in the spirit of the creator and by his righteousness. But in the end it will be clear: the memory of such violence, oppression and robbery on all the sons of Adam by the same, it's structural elements and organization will be a memory, and in pure destruction that memory will too be destroyed. In the mean time, I don't encourage a single world religion but only justice and knowledge of the creator and his will. A humble and through examination of it.

I think it's worth saying again that I am not trying to convert to any world religion because that is impossible. I am for education and as far as I am convinced the vast social and operative laws of the creator and even expressed in the life of the peasant peoples prophet Jesus of Nazareth are the solution. But again, any thing worth it takes dedication and determination to implement. Serious, skilled and an educated collective will no doubt be needed at least some point in this struggle for true justice.

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Thank you for sharing the links. One was 404'd. The Connecting the Dots of the Social Gospel Movement with Changes Afoot Today is interesting. Without reading any of Walter Rauschenbusch's work outside the article I instantly question if he is merely reacting to the oppressive social structure with reactionary measures that don't heal or is he actively trying to bring it down by the roots rather than taking down a few bad branches off the "social tree". I say this because the bible calls for destruction of the world empires completley (knowledge and know how to be learned and revealed).

I also understand that I have plenty of room for improvement and will not try to come across as something I am not. I have plenty of work to be done to the inner man to be able to join this struggle.

 

I’d bring up a few things –

One - in 1912 the US Socialist Party had over a thousand elected officials in local government and that Eugene Debs got a million votes in that year’s presidential race (6 per cent of the vote, the envy of many socialist around the world at the time). It was able to get over thirty Mayors into power as many legislators and had large numbers of loyal votes in many urban areas.

Second - that although the policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt could not in reality be called socialist (although many Americans today would claim they were socialist) however they were designed to try and limit the adverse effects of capitalism through distributive measures.

Third - here are some present day top level tax rates for some Scandinavian countries

Denmark 55%
Finland 45%
Norway 47%
Sweden 56%

And here are some historical top level tax rates for the US

1945 - 94%
1970 – 70%
1982 – 50%

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I just say that none of those things which brought about an apocalyptic catastrophe that produced a Road Warriors scenario or an ISIS-style Caliphate.

 

Hi.......... twas thinking of Cuba, where my spouse was born.