Is it Avoidable or Inevitable? “We’re not going to bail our way out of this crisis, we’re not going to stimulate our way out of this crisis, we are only going to educate, ultimately, and imagine and invent our way out of this crisis.” —Thomas L. Friedman, Meet the Press “By 2020, the U.S. will be spending $1 trillion a year just to … [Read more...]
The Big Debate on American Education
November 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Home Schools, the New Private Schools, and Other Non-Traditional Learning By Oliver DeMille The current national commentary on American education is split by a major paradox. On the one hand, nearly all the experts are convinced that our schools must find a way to effectively and consistently teach the values and skills of innovation and … [Read more...]
Education Reform Won’t Work Anymore
November 2, 2011 by 1 Comment
By Oliver DeMille We Need a Transformation! A Review of Ken Robinson's Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative This is an excellent book. Here are some of Robinson’s main points: We are living in a time of global change, whether we admit it or not. “As the world spins faster and faster, organizations everywhere say they need people … [Read more...]
A U.S. Grand Policy
October 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Oliver DeMille The Jobs Plan We Need In the furor over the national debt, deficits, stimulus programs, the Obama Administration’s proposed jobs plan and the Republican responses, we are missing a simple reality. America right now is in desperate need of a clear, simple, overarching Grand Policy. The Grand Policy would look something like … [Read more...]
Capitalism vs. Free Enterprise
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Oliver DeMille The New Culture War During the Cold War, people came to equate the three ideas of democracy, capitalism and free enterprise. This made sense at some level, since the whole world seemed inescapably divided into authoritarian, totalitarian, socialist and communist nations on the one hand and democratic, capitalistic and free … [Read more...]
Meritocracy is Elitism
October 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Oliver DeMille Modernism dislikes all types of elitism-- except for meritocracy. When elite status is merited, according to this view, it is a good thing. In such a society, our elites are: “…made up for the most part of bureaucrats, scientists, technicians, trade-union organizers, publicity experts, sociologists, teachers, journalists, … [Read more...]
Property and Freedom
September 26, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Oliver DeMille We can learn a lot about freedom by understanding how Marx wanted to establish communism. One of his ten planks of establishing communism was this: 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes… Take away property and you take away freedom. If a man or woman cannot own land, a … [Read more...]
A Genie & Entrepreneurship
September 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Oliver DeMille The old Cold War-era joke is told of an American, a Frenchman, and a Russian, lost in the wilderness, who find a lamp and rub it. Out comes a Genie. He offers them each one wish, for a total of three. The American pictures the large ranch owned by the richest people in the valley where he grew up, and wishes for a ranch ten … [Read more...]
A New Definition of Success
August 29, 2011 by Leave a Comment
By Oliver DeMille The Religion of Prosperity The lasting legacy of the twentieth century may be its materialistic definition of success. Indeed, the “religion” of prosperity has grown to dominate politics, philosophy, religious debate, family and community culture and even education (people sent their children to school with patently … [Read more...]
The Party System’s Newest Flaw
August 26, 2011 by 1 Comment
By Oliver DeMille I recently watched a televised debate on whether America’s two-party system is making our nation ungovernable. During the debate, New York Times columnist David Brooks said something fascinating. He mentioned that political scientists keep track of how much cooperation there is between the two parties in Congress, and … [Read more...]
