Terri Deems wrote:
> the meaning of work has come, for a number of reasons, to be
> equated with our ability to consume. We educate in order to get good
> jobs; we get good jobs in order to consume more for ourselves, or enable
> others to consume more. That becomes the end value.
<snip>
>The challenge, of course (and one which we are struggling to address
>here), is how to reshape our institutions and society so that new meanings
>are encouraged. Only then will people more typically become the active
> learners, and critical thinkers, that will move our development forward.
As Terri points out, and I want to stress, we educate ourselves to get
good jobs so we can consume more. I think this points to our educational
system which currently exists, not to ready people for life, but to ready
people to get a job. It's a system created when we stopped being
independent contractors, and started getting jobs in corporations and
relying upon those companies for our livlihood and futures.
The two areas that continue to focus our attention to consuming is mass
media. Where the advertisers rule what goes on regular television.
Television is a powerful medium, and it is being sadly abused to educate
the masses (yes educate... they learn from commercials) that consuming
more, having more, buying more will lead to happiness!
People are learning. The question is what are they learning. A friend of
mine knows every detail about the Ottawa Senators (a hockey team just
knocked out of the playoffs) and yet he barely spends any time learning
other non-sports things.
Terri says we have to have typical people become active learners and
critical thinkers. I think we have to recognize that the world changes
due to the minority. It is again an 80%/20% rule... 20% of the people make
everything happen, and 80% of the world just rides the roller coaster.
Gary Scherling
Helping people help themselves
--"Gary M. Scherling" <GScherling_GMS_TPN@compuserve.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>