Socialism, Part Duh

From the Stoa this day, I will look at a few specific ways that Socialism has been translated from theory into practice.

People LOVE theory. Everything is so nice and tidy in the land of theory. Everybody shares and no one tries to take more than they are entitled to take.

Meet reality.

Socialism is supposed to be fairly straight forward. You get paid according to your skill and contribution to society and your needs as an individual...the old "each according to his means, each according to his needs" and all that.

All property is everyones, while at the same time it is really no one's. A small elite, party members all, decided which is what and when and where. Socialism fails because this small elite feel that they are entitled to live a better life than the rest, since the stress and pressure of their jobs is so much more than the common proletariate. No real incentive to give up the luxuries...so FAIL.

Lets remember that in Socialism, all are equal. That means that everyone should have what they need. Maybe not what they want, but they will have food and a place to sleep.

Socialism is loyalty to the State, as embodied by the Party, you know, that small elite making sure that everything runs smoothly. Loyalty to the State means ensuring that the State has its needs met. Human as well as material resources.

In this wonderful place, as you work your way through the educational system, you are routed where the State needs talent and manpower the most.

Think of it this way: an agency looks into the future and feels that goods and services will need to travel by train rather than trucks. You know, the environment and all. So they feel that the number of mechanics and skilled support need to all be increased by 45% over the next 20 years. As children make their way through the educational conveyer belt, they are routed off to schools where they will be turned into the engineers, mechanics, and managers that will staff and control this new train system.

Do you think that all of those children who became the mechanics and engineers really wanted to do those jobs? Irrelevant, really, since it was in the needs of the State and by extension, the People.

In America, our version of Socialism in Education translates into, "No child left behind." This means that the best and brightest will be slowed, or retarted so that the less capable will be given more time to learn. The reality is that schools now teach to rote testing without regard to actual learning. Funding for the schools and all. This fails on multiple levels. Those with talent don't develop that talent, and those that are destined to be ditch diggers waste a lot of time trying to learn things they will never need. No one wants to look little Johnny in the face and tell him that he is not destined for the University. That little Johnny is not smart enough to be a doctor or lawyer. All children have equal potential and all that illogical stuff.

It is sad that the Socialist countries of Europe have a better educational system than ours. One reason is that they run their human resource through a cold calculation. We demand x number of students with y level of education. Well, we have too many students to spend a limited supply of resources upon, so they sort out the best and the brightest from the chaff and chum of society and spend the most resources on them.

This comes from a variety of "cullings" that take place in your educational development. When a child first enters school, their aptitude and basic intelligence is measured. The exceptional artists are taken out and sent to a dedicated academies, such as music, dance, gymnastics, and mathematics. Those that are left continue on until about the 8th grade. From there, they are separated again along intelligence and aptitude scores.

Those that are not college material are shunted towards a trade school. This batch, at this level, is destined to be your line workers. Cars, bottles, road work, you name it, these are the people that will supply the vast manpower needs of the State.

The rest will proceed on a "college prep" path that will again match classes of children to the trade or service needs as projected by the State. When these children turn 18, they will take more tests to determine their paths.

Those under a certain line will go to work in their chosen trades as midlevel managers or more highly trained specialists. Those over a certain line will go on to the University for the best training. Even with these cut offs, there are more students then capacity, or need. So the first two years are meant to weed out the weak. Those unable to take the pressure or the pace are removed and sent back to the trades as mid level managers or specialists.

Those that make it through their University training, become the architects, designers, and executives of the trade organizations and government run companies. They also have been sorted out according to their "politics". Those from "good" families and good politics will become the next generation of party members and State planners.

Has there been any discussion of the student and their "holistic" needs in any of this? Have we even mentioned the "self-actualized" child? No, and you never will. The State does not CARE. There will always be more people than positions. They can afford to take the best and discard the rest. There will always be the need for menial labor. Robots are expensive. People are cheap.

This is the kind of world Obama embraces. This is the kind of world that people who love Theory will eventually inherit, as they don't think things out to their logical conclusions. People are just another resource for the State to manage, much like cattle are managed for meat.

Our schools spend on average of $10,000 or more per student. Socialist nations spend much, much less. With all that money going into our schools, you think the quality of the product would be commensurate. It is not. Not by a long shot.

Places with dirt floors and wooden planks for walls are turning out students of higher quality and better aptitudes then our schools.

What the hell went wrong and when did it go wrong?

That my students, is another blog for another day.

Until then, live well.

--Zavost