Thursday, November 1, 2012

Trust and Its Misuses - Bridging Differences - Education Week

Trust and Its Misuses - Bridging Differences - Education Week:


Trust and Its Misuses

Dear Pedro,
Thanks for reminding me that of something I haven't mentioned—why I'm voting for Barack Obama. In part, it's a no-brainer. No matter what issue one addresses. Just consider Ann Romney's recent blithe comments about getting rid of the whole education system. Charters (or private schools, I assume) are the answer. But I also fear a war on Iran and the end of Medicare and Obamacare and support for national infrastructure. I worry about any future for the young and the jobless and the underpaid part-timers, and the existence of trade unions, and the end of legal abortion and maybe even birth control, and on and on. This is a "gotta" election. But even a sweeping Obama victory won't answer the serious questions you and I are discussing, and a lot else that relates to the same mindset that has led his administration astray on education.
It all comes down to "seeing like a state" (author James Scott). Which, in turn, rests on distrust as a matter of policy, especially and perhaps only (?) in dealing with the non-rich. We don't even punish the very rich for willful