Comments on: Private Property, Personality, and Humanity

By: Diabetes one and soma.

Diabetes one and soma. — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:17:33 +0000

Soma….

Soma triathlon. Soma….

By: Lowcountryjoe

Lowcountryjoe — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:02:14 +0000

Admittedly, I did not click the link to read this story until seeing your post, Josh. That is amazing! I am in total disbelief. I just assumed that these were public school teachers. Wow! Just, "Wow!"

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 11:22:29 +0000

Yes, private property is evil. That's why all these teachers decided to work at a private school.

The year was 2007, and the legos were finally equal...

By: Sam Grove

Sam Grove — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 17:41:48 +0000

I suggest that thwarting the individual development of individuals inhibits brain development.

By: Lowcountryjoe

Lowcountryjoe — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 13:10:26 +0000

If I were a member of this school board in Seattke I'd immediately propose a change to equalize the compensation of every district employee no matter what postion they hold. Included in that proposal would be that the bulk of compensation would be provided through loaned housing, vehicles and clothing while providing standardized food and medical care to the district's individual workers and their immediate families. And, best of all, the proposal would cap the spending (and therefore the taxation of the public) at its previous level. Explaining, of course, that it is an experiment.

By: John W. Payne

John W. Payne — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 14:58:13 +0000

And that's why Sparta isn't remembered for art, poetry, or drama, but for war and war only.

By: M. Hodak

M. Hodak — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 13:45:16 +0000

My kids since the age of 3 have been in private schools, every one of which has had a strong collectivist bent. Recently, I asked one of their history teachers why their curriculum was so Marxist. He answered that his department felt that the kids already get capitalist indoctrination from their "rich" families and "deserve a differing perspective." After my jaw dropped, I said, "You're talking about Manhattan families, where the most common bumper sticker is 'Impeach Bush'?" Yeah, he replied, as if I had somehow proved his point.

Aside from the layers of offense one might take from this attitude (we are not exactly a chauffer-driven family), I eventually saw the irony that this teacher may have been right. At a recent dinner, my kids were debating whether or not they would have a competitive advantage against their peers who were basically inundated by the message that competition is bad. I guess kids figure this stuff out.

By: Sam Grove

Sam Grove — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:33:06 +0000

Limiting individual potential to a lower common denominator.

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 12:10:57 +0000

"…reason for universal education vouchers…"

Negative. That occurred at a private school. I ardently support school choice as a matter of human rights, but supporters have to realize that under choice there will hundreds, or more likely, thousands of schools dedicated to Communism, anti-Americanism, militant Islam, etc. Whatever you think of the public education now, I submit that it actually hinders things like this much more than you think. That article describes a scenario that would be common under any sort of genuine choice program. Not at the schools you support, but allowing school choice doesn’t change political / economic persuasions.

By: happyjuggler0

happyjuggler0 — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:32:06 +0000

Yet another reason for universal education vouchers. It is simply apalling that everyone except the rich pretty much is forced to send their kids to be brainwashed almost at random.

http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/index2.html

By: Randy

Randy — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:58:58 +0000

What bothers me is not so much that the teachers are experimenting, as that they don't even realize that they are experimenting. They are true believers. That is what we have turned our children over to.

By: Jim McAlister

Jim McAlister — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:39:53 +0000

What is so abysmally sad about the "lesson" the teacher drew from the children's project is the lack of realization that the advent of capitalism corresponded with the rise of democracy – both were explicitly NOT class-based; everyone was equal in rights before the law –no one was privileged because of force or accident of birth. The “social power” of property ownership is a spectacularly exceptional achievement in human history, born (I believe)out of the mind of God Himself as enshrined in the social genius of the Ten Commandments. The sad, familiar story of most of human history is that of an elite few enjoying relative plenty at the expense of the many for no other reason than that they possess power, in the form of naked force or the acquiescence of ingrained habit, to do so. Under the ideals of democratic capitalism, the "many" enforce among themselves rules that simultaneously allow the freedom to achieve and the protection of that achievement. But not its enshrinement. The story of democratic capitalism is the story of nearly incredible progress, predicated on the products of personal giftings and personal character on offer to others, at values not determined by the offeror by the offeree. What is empirically true is that the apple-cart of “class” is continuously upset in the topsy-turvy world of the marketplace. An achiever class does, in fact, exist, but its membership is totally fluid. Many simply don’t aspire to join it – it is generally an arduous project to develop the talents, even God-given ones, and make the sacrifices that are normally the tickets for entry. But those that don’t aspire or can’t aspire to the “top of the heap” are the beneficiaries through the expanding need for workers in enterprises that never existed previously, the relatively higher wages available to those who can be ever more productive through the use of ever more sophisticated tools of the trade, and the rising standard of living due to the expanded availability at ever lower prices of goods and services that were once the luxuries only the rich could afford. It is an almost pitiable thing to see how relatively poor even the master class is in most tyrannies – a point that Adam Smith was making in the Wealth of Nations. Capitalism IS social power – and Amen to it.

By: Chris O'Leary

Chris O'Leary — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:30:47 +0000

Yesterday I heard of a study that was done by some Australian researchers of the treatment of collective tea spoons. They found that people did not treat this collective property with the same respect that they did private property.

Here's the link…

"The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute"

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/331/7531/1498