tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post4069787112645484409..comments2024-03-28T19:47:39.985-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Can We Rebuild Social Capital?Peter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-19714006845359217652015-06-07T16:33:32.224-04:002015-06-07T16:33:32.224-04:00Right here is why Mike and his Fordham pals won...Right here is why Mike and his Fordham pals won't solve the problem: http://talkpoverty.org/2015/05/28/anti-poverty-movement/CrunchyMamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434606158400653601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-57490915739335854442015-06-04T18:42:58.114-04:002015-06-04T18:42:58.114-04:00Petrilli simply does not understand what social ca...Petrilli simply does not understand what social capital is. For that matter, neither does E.D. Hirsch or the entire core knowledge movement.<br /><br />Social capital is not something that people without it gain that allows them to freely access opportunity and social mobility. Social capital is the combination of social mores and cultural knowledge that the already powerful use to justify their increasing accumulation of actual capital at the expense of pretty much everyone else.<br /><br />Sure, there are always cases of people from low social capital backgrounds who crack the code and are allowed in (more often invited in) but they are the exception that proves the rule.<br /><br />When this country had a workforce that was largely unionized, families had a chance to build enough real capital generation over generation so that their descendents had a chance to be socially mobile. Well, more to the point, families of European descent had that chance. But by now so much capital has accumulated into so few hands that such mobility is badly shut down. Claiming that "social capital" will save the day for impoverished and dying middle is just a diversion from the real problem -- our elite are hoarders.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-65580793772846122872015-06-04T13:29:43.458-04:002015-06-04T13:29:43.458-04:00I think the thing that offends me most about that ...I think the thing that offends me most about that article is that it's an article about education and poverty written by a guy who hasn't even passing experience in either arena. <br /><br />I have literally taught (probably 20 years ago now) in schools in his actual residential neighborhood - the parents treated the teachers to breakfast on their first duty day back from summer and never before had I seen caviar as an option in omelettes (and never since, come to think of it). Median income there stands over $138K, even though Petrilli sends his kid to a "Public Private" school in our district. It's all theory to him and to Fordham, just a big Monopoly game brought to you by the same guy who wants charters reserved for Good Kids (Whose Parents Apply And Who Win The Lottery) while Other People's Children get thrown under the bus.<br /><br />My skin is still crawling 2 days after I first read it. *shudder*CrunchyMamahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434606158400653601noreply@blogger.com