Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Business Class: A Slippery Slope

In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, one's intelligence, and hence occupation are predetermined at birth, ranging from Alpha Plus to Epsilon Minus. Having those as young as 12 (7th Graders) choosing careers is the beginning of a slippery slope. There is an old Arabian proverb which says "Let a camel stick his nose in your tent, and soon he will be all in".
Fascism, which has been described by Benito Mussolini as "the corporate state", is a political system where not only is all government criticism supressed, but one's career is determined by one's aptitude, not one's interests. This view is also espoused in communism, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need". Having a class where students are indoctrinated to be good workers for a corporation is not only fascist, but plutocratic as well. Apparently, businesses in Delaware are involved in the creation of the curriculum. If businesses are involved in this, don't you think it would be in their financial interest to have students indoctrinated to be good workers? If we have corporations getting the government to increase profits instead of educating students, one will be stuck with a stupid populace with no idea how to (and no desire to) revolt against the totalitarianism expressed in dystopian novels. Having a business class in middle school is letting the nose of totalitarianism into the tent of democracy.

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