Education in crisis - this way out

In democratic societies, certain values have been seen as primordial. Economic activity and market actors should find their place in that value system. Phrases such as the “social market” economy or “capitalism with a human face” reflected that mentality. There has always been a tension between the market and human values or “public service values”. That is how it must be. In the days of the Cold War, capitalism was sometimes confused with democracy. It should now be clear to everybody that ...

Mr. Dyokwe worked as an employee of a factory in Cape Town, South Africa beginning in 2000. In 2003, he was asked by his supervisor to go and “sign a form”. When he went to the office at the address provided, he was told that he would have to go to work for a “labour broker” if he wanted to keep his job. He returned to his position, but with a lower salary.  And, in 2009, he found himself on ...

"Money is the mother's milk of politics." Former Speaker of the California Assembly Jesse Unruh   When Speaker Unruh uttered his famous phrase in 1966, money lubricated the American political system to a much lesser degree than it does today. The Centre for Responsive Politics estimates that nearly six billion dollars will be spent in federal elections this year in the United States; this figure represents a significant growth over each election cycle. Huge amounts of corporate money for financing campaigns, campaigning on ...

Sustainable development is a sensible framework for looking at the system. It represents a fundamental shift in analysis from the “Washington Consensus”. The idea of examining economic, social, and environmental issues together as three, interdependent pillars of development was a sharp break with the idea that the market was king and that everything else should respond and adapt to it. The ambulances were to be dispatched to retrieve the bodies of the market’s victims from the economic battlefield. And the ...

One of the earliest priorities of the trade union movement, dating back to the 19th century in many countries, was free public education. This demand was made in order to provide opportunities for the children of workers. It was part of a fight for equality, a fight that is not yet won.Quality education remains a central trade union priority for equality between women and men; to provide opportunities for groups on the margins of society; for democracy; and for building ...