Obama: "We have to educate our children for an economy where knowledge is capital."

[Mika]

Just heard him say this at West point.

Like knowing how to traunch millions of mortgages? Or knowing how to set up derivatives and hedge funds?

Hell. We'll train all the kids to be American corporate "investment" CEO's. Just what the world wants right now. :eyes:

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[BrklynLiberal]

1. One might think that free, universal public education would be the foundation for that...

[Ozymanithrax]

2. But knowledge is capital...for most of us.

I hire a plumber, a gardner, or a money market manager based on their knowledge. Knowledge is capital, and if we raise our children to be as smart as each child can be, they will be able to invest their knowledge and enrich their lives.

[Mika]

4. I agree w/ your point, but the statement reeks of information age corporate newspeak.

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[Ozymanithrax]

10. We live in an age when all political leaders speak in sound bites...

Very few politicians ever say anything substantive because media wants to deliver their pithy wisdom in just a few seconds. They want to say something short that is memorable and, hopefully, non-specific enough so it can't be used against them.

Since the late seventies, the news media has educated two generations of people who don't want to be bothered if you can not sum up a policy in a dozen words or less. That is one of the reasons why the right has been so successful. They have convinced people that governing is less complex than kindergarten and that issues can all be summed up in sound bites. That is why many Americans tune out of politics, because governing a heard of moronic cats is really very complex.

[Autumn]

3. Knowledge. And yet schools are cutting

teachers. The war machine is getting fatter all the time.

[Mika]

5. One can't capitalize if everyone has the same information.

He with the gold rules.

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[Billy Burnett]

6. How about some knowledge on stopping deep sea oil well blowouts before we drill?

Just an idea. :shrug:

[Pirate Smile]

7. He says something true and obvious and you bash him. for it. We don't need the RW to twist what he

says because so many here are happy to do it for them. :eyes:

[Billy Burnett]

11. Yes. The information age has served mankind well, especially the US labor class.

Global Impact of FedEx on the New Economy
http://images.fedex.com/us/about/download/economy/sri_exec_summary.pdf

However, the New Economy does not simply consist of a set of new,“high technology” industries. Instead, it represents the introductionof new forces affecting competitive advantage and sources of supply and demand.These forces and sources affect all industries, ranging from traditional sectors, such as agriculture, automotive manufacturing and retail services, to more modern sectors such as information technology and biotechnology.

IOW, gutting America.

[ShortnFiery]

8. Where hard science is *King* and creative arts are "the peons."

Welcome to the NEW Dark Ages.

[Mika]

13. More like creation science will be king.

Non corporate "creative arts" is socialistic devil worship.

:hi:

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[ShortnFiery]

25. Exactly! As Saint Ronnie and Reverend Falwell would have intended.

:crazy:

When I announced to my family I would be majoring in Psychology, they went into mourning ... literally. I swear they'd rather tell the neighbors that I was in prison rather than admit that their daughter was at University majoring in one of those left wing pinko socialistic sciences. :evilgrin:

[tranche]

16. Only a nutt would come to that conclusion from his comment.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. Did he leave out a word or did you misquote him?

It should be: "We have to educate our children for an economy where knowledge is capital."

[Mika]

12. Oops. Thanks.

:hi:

[freddie mertz]

14. "Knowledge is Capital." I prefer "Knowledge is Power."

But the corporations pulling the strings would never approve that message.

[izquierdista]

15. Other type of education

How to shoulder a rifle. How to fly a Predator drone. How to unload a clip when surprised by the sounds of children playing. How to demand to see someone's papers. How to be obedient to those with money.

[tranche]

17. So talking about education is something to be mocked on DU now?

[TheKentuckian]

21. Absolutely not but talking out of both sides of your mouth sure is.

Anyone that puts someone like Duncan in charge of education has little credibility in that area.

[vaberella]

18. Wow...to the posts on this thread.

It's just a different board politically but the snide commentary is universal.

[emulatorloo]

22. Take a boring (cliched) statement, twist the meaning around and turn it into something "Scary"

and "Significant."

Now why does that sound familiar? Could we create a TV show based on this?

[chill_wind]

19. 126,907,748 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 would go a long way

toward that idea. Instead we gave it to the Pentagon just in FY2010.

188,536,667 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 could have gone a long way in America since 2001.
132,716,897 Scholarships for University Students for One Year would have helped a lot of students and families along the way, too.

Instead, we spent it on two wars. But maybe West Point isn't exactly the place to make those points.

http://www.nationalpriorities.org/tradeoffs?location_type=1&state=888&program=585&tradeoff_item_item=365&submit_tradeoffs=Get+Trade+Off

[emulatorloo]

20. If Obama said "Education is American as Apple Pie" DU would attack him.

It was just a way of saying education and knowledge are valuable, put into an analogy that most people understand is an analogy.

[Mika]

23. But he didn't say that.

[emulatorloo]

28. He said something equally benign. Did you break into Glenn Beck's medicine cabinet?

Rational people know what he said, and rational people understand it is a analogy, and a tired old cliched one for that matter.

"A good education is like money in the bank" etc etc.

Not everthing is a sinister conspiracy.

[Radical Activist]

24. Yeah, I'm sure that's exactly what he meant.

Cynical much?

[treestar]

26. It must be painful to twist that hard to find a negative way to interpret that

Going out of your way that far to be negative has to be bad for your health.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

27. Boo, knowledge! Let's stay stupid!

:eyes: