Thursday, May 17, 2012

Teaching people how to consume

Ramana, Grannymar, Shackman and I are bemoaning the current state of education.  Teaching to the test, so that rote answers substitute for critical thinking may not be the whole problem.  Unfortunately, we may still be teaching our children quite effectively.  The problem is in WHAT we are teaching them.

At one time, we were teaching them to be good citizens.  Now, we may be more effectively teaching them how to be good consumers!  The following article is well worth the read:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/opinion/sunday/friedman-this-column-is-not-sponsored-by-anyone.html?src=me&ref=general

7 comments:

  1. This post is sponsored by Red Top Wines. Not enough consuming going on!!!

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  2. My kids can sing most jingles. They can sing the tune, and know the lyrics. Most of them I've never even heard of before...

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  3. Good piece by TF.

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  4. I don't wish to fashion the Angel into the Angel he is. And he is.

    He is one of the few who have never bought into fashion labels. In fact, even when little, he refused to wear a T-shirt, anything, with a designer label on it. He declared that he wasn't a walking advert for whoever, and anyway who, in their right mind, pays prices like that? I don't know how much money he has saved me by militantly refusing to be bought two pairs of jeans when one will suffice, or the old ones still servicable. I will get carried away, any minute now, remembering many a shopping expedition with him declaring: "I don't want you to buy me any of this shit." Still, one does need new shoes every so often. Now that he himself earns good money he spends even less on anything he doesn't "need".

    It's a mystery to me how he has escaped consumerism's brainwashing. And, boy oh boy: It feels good to be the mother of a young man with his head screwed on.

    U

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  5. Friedman could have been writing about Indian children too!

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  6. "...the result is that the affluent and those of modest means live increasingly separate lives," Mr Friedman is only waking up to what has gone on for centuries. Money is the new god, and 'Me. Me. ME', the mantra. We now live in a world of abbreviations and unfortunately in education it is no different with Degrees of B.A., M.A., B.Sc., Ph.D etc., handed out like Smarties, they are no indication of how productive a person will be in the work place. I have come across people on many occasions with a string of letters after their names, yet they have no idea of how to behave or interact people.

    At the end of the day all the book knowledge is wasted if you never learn to have compassion for your neighbours and learn to wash their feet.

    Here endeth my Rant!

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  7. More to the point - it is an economic system run amok - where only growth at any means is acceptable. Sell the sizzle, not the steak. You have to sell yourself to get ahead. Hell - even break even. This is the negative side of a capitalistic society gone mad - or as the far right would say - this is simply the market sorting itself out. No interference - I mean regulation - required nor desired. Bigger is better. All hail the almighty market. If the markets were truly free that might mean something. We were warned back in the days of The Sovereign State of ITT. We just didn't learn. Hope we get it figured sooner rather then later.

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