[lit-ideas] Re: education
- From: Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2011 04:36:14 -0800 (PST)
________________________________
From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Monday, November 7, 2011 12:34 AM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: education
John: Whether the battle is winnable in a world where market-fundamentalist
economics are grounded in a neo-Calvinist view of humanity (a few blessed,
mostly damned) is, I fear, open to question. Whether it is winnable in a world
where, ever since the invention of writing, scribe and ruler have worked hand
in hand to exploit the rest, whatever the ideology said to govern economic
affairs, is very much open to question.
Andy: John, that's brilliant. Neo-Calvinism is exactly the image for the
increasing economic predestination this country is falling prey to. In the
same dicussion I heard yesterday on education (on television) it was said that
at one time (I think he said 50 years ago) 17% of people stayed in the bottom
20% of the economic ladder in the U.S. Today that figure is up to 50%. In
Scandinavia it's 25% stay in place, and Europe 30% don't move up. We've had
severe losses in this country. Scribe and ruler have in fact worked hand in
hand to exploit the rest, what a beautiful image. One hopes that the OWS
protests make a dent in reversing this slide that we're in.
Robert: two of my former thesis students are successful wine makers, south of
Portland, in the Willamette Valley <http://www.winesnw.com/will.html>, and
Richard Danzig, '61,
was Secretary of the Navy, under Clinton.
Andy: I'm encouraged that liberal arts are on their way back. I like to think
that I don't think I impress that easily, but Secretary of the Navy? Wow, that
is impressive, seriously.
For Adriano, thanks for your comments. I beg to differ though. Some of my
best friends are creationists in cosmetology. Very nice people too.
Andy
Other related posts:
