Socialism doesn't work. It's been tried on small groups and on Nations and Socialism goes against the grain of human nature.
In a private preschool in Seattle, they are teaching their little charges to be good little comrades.
Some Seattle school children are being told to be skeptical of private property rights. This lesson is being taught by banning Legos.
A ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children's Center in Seattle. According to an article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private property ownership is evil.
According to the article, the students had been building an elaborate "Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership." According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation."
The children were allegedly incorporating into Legotown "their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys." These assumptions "mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society -- a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive."
Like I said, this is a private school. Tuition is expensive at almost $1200 a month per child. Since it is a private school, located on Seattle's Queen Anne Hill. The area is describes this way from an area Realtor:
Queen Anne is the highest hill in Seattle with an elevation of more than 450 feet above the waters of Puget Sound. It is worth taking a drive around to see why housing prices are booming and rentals vacancies are low here. You will find a stylish combination of noteworthy architecture, water and city views, and lively shopping all in close proximity to downtown. Queen Anne has long been seen as a desirable place to live. Three bedroom, two bathroom homes in Queen Anne will start at $600k, town homes at $450k and two bedroom condos starting at $300k.
Homes start at 600 big ones and million plus homes in the area are common. You don't live there unless you are a successful capitalist pig.
So what did they teach these wealthy, budding, little capitalists?
The children were allegedly incorporating into Legotown "their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys." These assumptions "mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society -- a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive."
They claimed as their role shaping the children's "social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity ... from a perspective of social justice."
So they first explored with the children the issue of ownership. Not all of the students shared the teachers' anathema to private property ownership. "If I buy it, I own it," one child is quoted saying. The teachers then explored with the students concepts of fairness, equity, power, and other issues over a period of several months.
At the end of that time, Legos returned to the classroom after the children agreed to several guiding principles framed by the teachers, including that "All structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes." The teachers quote the children:
"A house is good because it is a community house."
"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes."
"It's important to have the same amount of power as other people over your building."
"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes." Isn't that nice. Like I said, this is a private school and they can teach whatever in the hell they want, but you gotta wonder what those kids think when they go home to Mommy and Daddy to a house most people can't afford. Now I suppose at four-years-old, their understanding of the size of a house or property value is pretty limited. A ten dollar bill is worth the same as one they drew with crayons. And I'm sure that Mr. and Mrs. Limousine Liberal who send their little tykes to this school probably know that the staff are out in Commie la-la land.
Eventually they'll figure out that their parents are rich white bastards and that they should feel a massive amount of guilt for being raised in a rich white family and join some radical Left-wing nutball association to assuage their guilt.
In the meantime, the liberals continue their ceaseless war on capitalism so that we can all live in equal houses, of equal size.
Hat Tips: Orbusmax and TCS Daily
VW








Sounds like the limousine libs around here that live on 'the Hill' around UCSC. It never ceases to amaze me how free they are with other people's money, (they like to tax everything that is legal, esp. if they don't like whatever it is,) yet I don't see them voting to 'equalize' their gross income.
The 2 bdrm house my husband and I rent would go for $750,000 on the market and it's located at the bottom of 'the Hill'. No ocean view either...
Posted by: yankeemom | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 17:43
Google 'Salinas, CA' + crime, (home of John Steinbeck). Just last week there were 3 murders in 5 hours ~ all gang shootings. And that was just one day.
Posted by: yankeemom | Thursday, March 01, 2007 at 17:47
We used to be more socialist here in Canada until FTA and NAFTA got in the door. Socialism worked for us and we had a good nation with universal healthcare and benefits for the unemployed, to name a few. Now it's gone to shit thanks to the American capitalist pigs getting in the door through those trade agreements. Now there is talk of privatizing healthcare, unemployment benefits have been cut way back so people can't survive and feed their families until they get another job. Canada is becoming lean and mean with everything being run according to the bottom line. It's disgusting.
Those stupid teachers should just shut the hell up because all they are doing is confusing the kids. The kids, through no fault of their own, are rich. Teaching them this fairness mumbo-jumbo is stupid. Only in a private school would such bullshit be taught. When these kids get older, they will realize these teachings were all just window-dressing to make their parents feel better about being rich, that's all. The kids will see the hypocrisy of it all and they will feel torn about many things. That is not fair to them.
The rich have no business espousing things they know nothing about. They should just stay in their rich little enclaves and shut up. Blurring the lines to ease their conscience only makes the rest of us want to storm their bastions of luxury and pillage.
Posted by: canuckistani | Saturday, March 03, 2007 at 07:49
You can blame FTA and NAFTA all you want, but the truth is simply that your system was imploding anyway. What you pay in taxes, even now, is outrageous. When the wife and I were in B.C this last summer, it was incredibly expensive. Taxes were out of this world. At some point, the Government teat was gonna run dry. You cannot tax people into prosperity.
VW
Posted by: Violence Worker | Saturday, March 03, 2007 at 10:54
Yankeemom, how do you afford to live in California. They've almost run most industry out of the state. It's why Boeing has no interest in in manufacturing airplanes down there. The only airplane manufactured down there is the C-17 and once that line closes in 2009, that's it.
VW
Posted by: Violence Worker | Saturday, March 03, 2007 at 10:56