Comments on: The ‘other’ consumption, and the importance of you http://www.howtomatter.com/2009/11/03/the-other-consumption-and-the-importance-of-you/ A little more wisdom, a little less convention Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:05:59 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Jeb http://www.howtomatter.com/2009/11/03/the-other-consumption-and-the-importance-of-you/comment-page-1/#comment-1124 Jeb Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:08:47 +0000 http://www.howtomatter.com/?p=735#comment-1124 Public education is most definitely one of my hot buttons too, Nate. It's such a perfect example of how something becomes a part of our experience and accepted as 'mandatory', rather than questioned. Education is important. Critical, actually. But the standards of learning and standardized testing that drive so much instruction today, coupled with the all but universal acceptance of the "go to school, get good grades, get a good job" dictum...well, it's presumptuous at best, and downright hazardous at worst. These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night Nate...seems I'm not alone. Public education is most definitely one of my hot buttons too, Nate. It’s such a perfect example of how something becomes a part of our experience and accepted as ‘mandatory’, rather than questioned.

Education is important. Critical, actually. But the standards of learning and standardized testing that drive so much instruction today, coupled with the all but universal acceptance of the “go to school, get good grades, get a good job” dictum…well, it’s presumptuous at best, and downright hazardous at worst.

These are the kinds of things that keep me up at night Nate…seems I’m not alone.

]]> By: Jeb http://www.howtomatter.com/2009/11/03/the-other-consumption-and-the-importance-of-you/comment-page-1/#comment-1123 Jeb Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:01:59 +0000 http://www.howtomatter.com/?p=735#comment-1123 Absolutely Fabian...the auto-response is becoming "I'll just pay someone to do that for me", rather than doing for ourselves. But you're right, self-reliance en masse is not necessarily the answer either. Just a healthy recognition that we're capable of more than those selling to us would have us believe, and the inclination to think first of production, rather than consumption, to meet our needs. Absolutely Fabian…the auto-response is becoming “I’ll just pay someone to do that for me”, rather than doing for ourselves. But you’re right, self-reliance en masse is not necessarily the answer either. Just a healthy recognition that we’re capable of more than those selling to us would have us believe, and the inclination to think first of production, rather than consumption, to meet our needs.

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