Monday, May 11, 2009

What kids are being taught these days...

I was relatively on board with the graphics and logic behind the "Story of Stuff" video until about minute two when she depicts corporations as these fat balloon people who force governments to shine their shoes. Yeah, I'm not joking. The woman presents this anti-capitalist b.s. as factual and it has been played in over 7,000 classrooms already and has over 5 million youtube hits.



I don't want kids to be overly materialistic, but I don't want them to vilify the capitalist system that enables us to enjoy arguably the greatest standard of living in the world. And unfortunately, I don't know how you can unpack all the liberal bias in a comprehensible way to kids after they see this video. Hopefully most teachers are presenting this as a basis for discussion, but most kids can't think critically about presentation bias until high school and even then they'll take most stuff at face value. This stuff scares me!

2 comments:

theBacchanalia said...

I mean, she makes a lot of good points. Her bias is overwhelming, but it's true that our planet only has so many resources and that there is only so much land to dump on.

Yes, our consumer and capitalist economy has worked fairly well for us. We have among the highest standards of living in the world. But at what expense? And how long can it last? We live on a finite planet, after all...

Whitney Lynne said...

Thanks for admitting that her bias is overwhelming. And I agree that we are overly materialistic and at times lament that (in this ONE respect) we weren't more like Europe in their economic/efficient use of "stuff." That being said, I don't believe the solution she briefly espouses at the end should be forced upon corporations and individuals. People will lose their jobs and prices will rise. If anything, we need to educate our kids and consumers so they make more efficient choices, but realize it's STILL THEIR CHOICE!