> My own son was nearly forced to take a class on Marxism at one of the top tech schools in the US as a condition for graduation with an engineering degree. I say "nearly" because the way they did it was "soft". He had to take a humanity and the only class available for a year and a half was "Young Karl Marx". So, go to Marxism class or graduate a year and a half later. Disgusting.
A class on Marxism is hardly a bad thing. Learn what it is, and what it is not. Judge it for ones-self. Restriction on education is what the communist regimes did, not the free world.
> Anyone who thinks these ideas are, in any way, good, has not lived under them. I have. Most of my family has. Friends have. Neighbors have. To call Socialism and Marxism "dangerous bullshit" is to be kind. The problem is the US has no clue what they are walking into. And so people like Bernie, AOC and others are idolized and supported instead of being laughed out of every possible corner of influence in this country.
The good news is that neither AOC nor Bernie Sanders are Marxists, they're Leftists. The difference is that human rights matter to them as opposed to what happened in the hardline Marxist/communist governments where ideology trumped humanity. There's no Leftist call for the destruction of non-Leftist art, non-Leftist science, non-Leftist political parties, or any of that. It's just another way of structuring taxes and social services.
> The average high school graduate in the US is barely good enough to stack boxes in a warehouse or, maybe, make coffee. No financial education. No understanding of business. No marketable skills at all. That's what we are producing by the millions every year. Imagine what we could do if we graduated kids with solid financial, entrepreneurial, business and other chops. It would be absolutely amazing.
The schools are still stuck in the model of making good little factory/office workers, it's true, but that's no more a fault of the Marxists than it is the Capitalists trying to keep labor cheap, although they've found outsourcing to countries with lower regard for human rights to be far superior.
Also, hoping for high-school graduates to have business acumen and marketable skills is pretty optimistic. I'd expect 18-25 to be the years where people develop those highly valuable skills; not everyone can be an entrepreneur and definitely not at 18. Maybe if we hit full automation we can start to expect high-school students to immediately start robotic businesses but realistically it takes a lot of years of practice to be good at business and finance.
A class on Marxism that distorts the reality of what it is and paints it as a good idea full of promise IS a bad thing. That's exactly what this class did. My son shared course materials with me.
> Learn what it is, and what it is not.
That is exactly what they did not do. The number of young people who actually think this shit is worth consideration is scary.
I see learning about Marxism exactly as I see learning about genocides. It is important to understand why it happened, how, and what and then understand just how horrible these things have been for humanity and why we never again want to repeat these mistakes. The equivalent of how they handle teaching Marxism in the US would be to speak of genocide as a good thing and have kids graduate believing that nonsense.
> Restriction on education is what the communist regimes did, not the free world.
Nobody is talking about restricting education. It's about telling the truth. The problem is in our educational institutions turning into ideological indoctrination machines. Seriously, the prevalence of socialist, leftist, Marxist thinking and teaching at our universities should make everyone take pause. A simple example of this is the violently militant culture at places like Berkeley, where they have, quite literally, violently prevented non-complying opinions to be voiced. That is not to say I agree with these views. I am simply saying that they are acting in a manner no different to the way you characterized communist regimes. Try to go to a university and have an open discussion about anything right of center and, today, you better have bodyguards. How isn't everyone horrified about this?
There's another element to this: What do we need more of for a prosperous future, young people educated on finance, entrepreneurship, business management, etc. or Marxism? Which of the two approaches improves society for all? I would much rather have students come out of schools and universities with both valuable knowledge and skills. Yes, teach history, don't lie about it, but focus on what actually matters and don't waste their time with nonsense. Forcing a class on Marxism as a graduation requirement for an engineering is criminal.
> neither AOC nor Bernie Sanders are Marxists, they're Leftists.
Probably not true at the core. They know --particularly AOC-- that if they come out with what they really think they will spook millions. They have to inch into their ideologies, shift the nation slowly. That's exactly how most atrocities happened in most parts of the world. You have to look back to where the ideologies come from. In AOC's case she was indoctrinated by our universities. That's how you can get a sense of what she thinks. Some of the stuff she says is so insanely out there it is impossible to understand how someone can think that way other than pure indoctrination.
> There's no Leftist call for the destruction of non-Leftist art, non-Leftist science, non-Leftist political parties, or any of that. It's just another way of structuring taxes and social services.
You are kidding, right? They have literally cancelled people and businesses and destroyed all manner of national historical monuments. They literally actively exclude non-leftists from university and business. I know people who, today, in the US, are afraid of voicing their opinion for fear of their lives, families and careers being destroyed. By the left. People are living in real fear of this truly evil phase of leftism in the US. American conservatives don't do anything of the sort.
> The schools are still stuck in the model of making good little factory/office workers
Not true. They graduate people devoid of marketable skills. And now we have to pay them $15 per hour, which they are not worth by a longshot (the inquiries for our robotic systems are going off the charts as companies are getting ready to eliminate people who are simply not worth this ridiculous hike in minimum wage).
Seriously, list what the average US high school graduate is good for and see what you come up with. The definition of this would be that they would be able to perform the work with no or minimal (a couple of weeks?) training.
Let me put it this way: The kids I mentored at the local robotics club came out 10 times more capable to add value to an organization than their peers.
I recognized this problem early on and made it a point to teach my kids useful skills. My oldest, about to graduate from university, left home with full intermediate level software development skills, knowing how to weld, manual and CNC machining, woodworking and more. On top of that, I devoted a few months to teaching him about finances, the stock market, showed him the value of not spending money on stupid things and the power of intelligent savings with equally careful and intelligent investment. He is graduating university having saved a large pile of cash from the well paying jobs he was able to get from day one (because he added real value). And, due to the financial education he got from me, he has savings and investments most adults would dream of having.
That's the power of an education that creates useful 18 year olds. It would be amazing if we adopted such concepts at a national level. And, no, not everyone needs to learn calculus or coding, that's stupid. My daughter has love for other things and that is what I am focusing on with her. Finding ways to ensure she comes out of high school with actual marketable skills someone would be willing to pay for.
> hoping for high-school graduates to have business acumen and marketable skills is pretty optimistic
I disagree. If I can do it with my kids the school system can do it with all kids. You have to have teachers who can teach that stuff, which also means we have to free the teaching profession from unions who do nothing to avance education (they advance union matters, not education).
This could be a good conversation over a cup of coffee. Look, I understand that fixing the world is a pointless pursuit, but one ought to be able to look at some of these things and call bullshit when warranted. I know I am a bit of a hard-liner when it comes to these issues. My grandparents survived a genocide and taught me values through their hard work and resilience. They worked very hard. They were useful to society. They did not bitch, complain, become victims, ask for handouts or equality of outcomes. They saw things that would make most people projectile vomit, and yet nobody would know it if they didn't open up about it. I want to be like them. I want my kids to be like them.
A class on Marxism is hardly a bad thing. Learn what it is, and what it is not. Judge it for ones-self. Restriction on education is what the communist regimes did, not the free world.
> Anyone who thinks these ideas are, in any way, good, has not lived under them. I have. Most of my family has. Friends have. Neighbors have. To call Socialism and Marxism "dangerous bullshit" is to be kind. The problem is the US has no clue what they are walking into. And so people like Bernie, AOC and others are idolized and supported instead of being laughed out of every possible corner of influence in this country.
The good news is that neither AOC nor Bernie Sanders are Marxists, they're Leftists. The difference is that human rights matter to them as opposed to what happened in the hardline Marxist/communist governments where ideology trumped humanity. There's no Leftist call for the destruction of non-Leftist art, non-Leftist science, non-Leftist political parties, or any of that. It's just another way of structuring taxes and social services.
> The average high school graduate in the US is barely good enough to stack boxes in a warehouse or, maybe, make coffee. No financial education. No understanding of business. No marketable skills at all. That's what we are producing by the millions every year. Imagine what we could do if we graduated kids with solid financial, entrepreneurial, business and other chops. It would be absolutely amazing.
The schools are still stuck in the model of making good little factory/office workers, it's true, but that's no more a fault of the Marxists than it is the Capitalists trying to keep labor cheap, although they've found outsourcing to countries with lower regard for human rights to be far superior.
Also, hoping for high-school graduates to have business acumen and marketable skills is pretty optimistic. I'd expect 18-25 to be the years where people develop those highly valuable skills; not everyone can be an entrepreneur and definitely not at 18. Maybe if we hit full automation we can start to expect high-school students to immediately start robotic businesses but realistically it takes a lot of years of practice to be good at business and finance.