Education system produces fodder for the Capitalist system...

In France philosophy is a cornerstone of the educations system,children learn about Plato right through to Sartre and everything in between, they learn to understand why people have an opinion, what shapes it and how it can be viewed. Look at the flip side of things and the Irish education system. Irish people learn via rote learning with teachers second guessing (but with good guess work) questions that will come up on the Leaving Cert and then encouraging the children to learn via rote learning so that it can all be regurgitated over two weeks in June. Traditional subjects that require some analysis and argument like English (interpret a poem) or History (qualify a particular view point with evidence) are now coming to encourage children to learn vast passages of interpretation, it does not allow them to freely think. The net result of all of this is children come into the university system or into the working world with no critical thinking and are unable to come to a viewpoint as to how they may ameliorate a situation or look at various angles as they have been indoctrinated. Am I alone in thinking this? Critical thinking would have stopped this social malaise of indifference that we are experiencing at the moment...

Reconstructing Society

Culturally Ireland is at a dead end , this is not about the music or the films or the traditional aspects of what people think of Ireland when they hear culture here in Ireland. We are talking about the norms and values here that Irish people have clung to for hundreds of years as a way of life and are scared rigid that they should change some great misfortune should befall them.

Basics

Norms are the accepted way of behaving in a particular social situation and values are the beliefs that drive these behaviours. Often these are influenced by family or outside forces. Eg. Britian occuping Ireland for 800 odd years saw people develop this want of houses , "we must own property" .

How the System Currently Works

In any organisation whether it be a political or corporate or otherwise, they tend to attract people of a similar mindset ending up with cliques or similar like minded people. Place this into a hierarchy of society and those with the most resources end up dominating the political or social landscape. At the moment the bankers, property developers and others with financial clout own the arses of most of the general populace. Capitalism has encouraged behavioural normalisation where materialism has become a value and the accumulation of wealth is seeing as being the main driving force behind our very existence. These small groups of people at the top of the hierarchy are the ones whom are dictating the pace of society and its development . As to the apathy of the people (a phrase I have used more than once) this stems from being too comfortable and not liking change. Change interrupts their little routines.

What Im Proposing
A complete change of the system but that may not happen with our generation but should start with the next generation. David Knott a researcher in London showed that there was a significant benefit in encouraging children to have positive values if they are taught early . Two of these are important

-Educational Achievement

Education is the one way that definitively creates employment, contributes to the lubricating of the wheels and cogs of societies and ensures that there are less reasons for the those in society to be on the peripheral as they are afforded more and more opportunity to develop. Education could also take a more holistic approach to children. Teach them more about their emotions, that of others.

-Personal Responsibility

We take responsibility for our mistakes and are accountable to both ourselves and each other.

Its going to be hard to tackle the current apathy that is present but we can install the building blocks of a better future through change. Create more community based programmes, educational programmes and opportunities. Create a curiosity in the world.

We will teach society with better norms and values that drive people to help one and other, teach them to be self autonomous and not be servile.
Below are the links that act as a reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_change

http://humanresources.about.com/od/o...ure_change.htm

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkott...ional-culture/

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.g...ure_change.pdf

Does the strife and tension in the world at the moment a sign Capitalism is not working?

Capitalism favours a system where there is a hierarchy of people gaining profit on the back of people whom are paid enough to keep them in a job however whom cannot move from one job to another easily enough. You pay a man a wage and also control him with the net result that corporations and large business gain power. Capitalism may have some benefits but by and large is it not the largest contributor to the issues we have at the moment in the world in terms of strife? No one need look any closer than to the US where there has been an inequal health care system, social welfare system and where minorities were treated like second class citizens for years. Large insurance companies own the vast tract of the health care market, social welfare is cut off after a year as people are expected to be wage slaves and large business is predominantly white. Capitalism itself has contributed to the cause of divisions within society with African Americans, Latinos and other minorities all being treated with disdain by large corporations in the pursuit of materialistic wealth. Access to housing, employment, education and other benefits is restricted to a large swathe of white America whom are intent on oppressing those whom they cant make a quick buck from. Israel has seized land from Palestinians in the hope of expanding to make a larger country, more resources means more profit and the pursuit of financial goals inflicts more misery on the people of Palestine.

The divisions that afflict such groups can be seen as to be beneficial to capitalists and their ilk. The worker that is not united is the worker that will not fight, that will not empower themselves and rise up and fight for the rights they are entitled to.

Anarchopacifism - lets play the capitalists at their own game

Mulling over an idea. What about if we were to try and play the capitalists at their own game? Capitalism is an ethicless ideal, the exploitation of people for their own financial gain making a two tiered society but say we were to play them their own game? A number of people create a company to challenge the dominance of current corporations such as Chiquita (who whinged when the Honduran govt was going to raise the minimum wage by 60 percent , people there are in dire economic straits more info here http://www.counterpunch.org/2009/07/...latin-america/). We pay decent enough wages but we dont aim for profit which allows us to have minmum profit margins and anything we do make we pour back into the poor countries. I know there is the idea for co-ops and places like that but the problem with that is in places where there is military dictatorships co-ops are seen as a bad idea as the govt is in the pay of some corporations as happens in places like Colombia. Any company created could move in to pay decent wages to the workers and muscle in on the money being made by these corporations . Its guerilla captialism with an ethnic twist, hit the corporations where it hurts, financially.