The Myths of Hunger

Class,

THE MYTHS OF HUNGER

I. FOOD FIRST

A. The conceptual origins of "Myths about Hunger" are found in a publication provided by Food First in an article entitled "Hunger Is Not a Myth, But Myths Keep Us From Ending Hunger."

B. Food First reminds us that between 400 million and a billion people do not get enough to eat. Of those, twenty million will die. Most of those who die are children.

C. Increased food production, advanced agricultural techniques, and billions of dollars in foreign aid are not solving the problem of hunger.

D. Part of the explanation is that foreign aid is inevitably tied to existing "structures of misery." By becoming aware of the misconceptions associated with hunger, it is hoped that as a world community we can come closer to addressing the true dynamics of hunger.

II. MYTH #1: Scarcity

A. People are hungry because there is not enough food. Enough grain is grown worldwide to provide every man, woman, and child with 3500 calories per day, which is what the average North American consumes. Enough food is grown in worldwide to provide everyone with an adequate diet.

B. The one common denominator in every country where hunger is prevalent is that a few powerful people wield an ever tightening control over food production, distribution, and other economic resources. A United Nations study found that in eighty-three countries worldwide, 3 percent of the population controls more than80 percent of food production. Redistributing control of food production would help to eliminate hunger.

III. MYTH #2: Overpopulation

A. Hunger exists where there are too many people to feed. Population density by itself does not directly correspond to the prevalence of hunger. Food First notes that Bolivia has six times as much land under cultivation (per person) as China while 45 percent of Bolivia's people are hungry. China, on the other hand, has eliminated widespread hunger.

B. There are obvious long term problems associated with rapid population growth, but rapid population growth is not in its self a cause of hunger. Rapid population growth is a symptom of poverty. Families who live in poverty give birth to several children to:

1. Ensure the survival of some children because infant mortality rates are high.

2. And because poor families depend on children to gather resources.

3. Overpopulation will cease to be a problem when poverty is no longer a problem.

IV. MYTH #3: Increased Production

A. The solution to hunger is to use improved technology to produce more food. Foreign aid facilitates this process.

B. Often efforts to increase food production have ended up increasing the prevalence of hunger.

1. Often increased production is financed by First-World countries. Foreign assistance provided by the United States government is often distributed by AID (Agency for International Development).

2. Food produced via First-World financing is often exported back to the core leaving the local population more hungry than before the aid arrived in their country.

C. Although fifty percent of AID's budget goes for agriculture, rural development, and nutrition, AID does not do much to alleviate hunger and malnutrition.

1. AID's concentration in agriculture is designed to increase agricultural production in crops destined for the U.S. and to increase consumption of U.S. technology and farm products like fertilizer and pesticides.

2. While local farmers grow, process, and package fresh vegetables for export to more affluent countries that can afford the exports, local hunger and poverty persist and actually increases. Although the aggregate economy of the local government expands, the daily lives of individuals become more desperate. This is a sad contradiction in U.S. policy toward Central America.

3. Foreign investment distorts the local economy in the following ways:

a. Further Concentration of Wealth: Foreign aid causes a further concentration of wealth in poor countries. Farmers who can benefit from increased production use their profits to buy out poorer farmers or they invest their profits in other sectors of the economy. Land, therefore, is further concentrated in the hands of fewer people.

b. Problems Associated with Advanced Technology: High technology itself is a problem because machinery replaces human labor, thereby creating more unemployment and more poverty.

c. Inflation: The influx of large amounts of money creates other economic problems, such as inflation, thereby further exacerbating the existence of those who have to live at a subsistence level. Inflation occurs when foreign money is used to buy farm implements. When extra money is available to purchase certain items, the price of those items invariably goes up. Money that may originally be intended to improve the immediate conditions of the poor may create a situation where locals can no longer afford to buy necessary items.

V. MYTH #4: Foreign Assistance is Designed to Alleviate Hunger

A. Of course, the assumption that foreign assistance is designed to help the poor, the hungry, and the dispossessed is itself a myth. If the sole reason for foreign aid were to improve the conditions of people living in developing countries, the goal should have already been met in Central America.

B. The main purpose of foreign aid has never been to help the world's starving masses or to encourage the economic development of the Third-World in a manner that benefits the majority of people who live there.

1. Foreign aid is an instrument of American national security policy. Foreign aid seeks markets for U.S. investment and seeks to short circuit attempts to nationalize U.S. interests. U.S. foreign aid also attempts to arrange treaties so that U.S. interests are further promoted.

2. Often, U.S. foreign aid has decisively anti-humanitarian consequences. As First-World demand for agricultural exports increase, the value of Third-World farm land also increases. This action, in turn, increases the coercion experienced by Third-World campesinos.

VI. MYTH #5: Land Redistribution

A. - Redistributing control over resources would mean even less food production for the hungry because such redistribution would decrease the efficiency of food production.

B. Centralization Discourages Food Production. Anti-democratic systems of land tenure often leave large tracts of land unused.

C. Land Redistribution Encourages Production.

1. Large scale producers grow less food per acre than do small scale producers. To survive, small scale producers have to cultivate every available acre.

2. Large scale producers, on the other hand, can profit by keeping acreage out of production. Large scale enterprises have significant impact on local economies because they tend to control most of a given commodity. By drying up supplies in specific commodities, the monopolies can cause the price per unit of specific commodities to rise.

3. When land ownership is concentrated in the hands of a few, returns from production are seldom invested in making agriculture more productive. Instead, profits are invested in other areas of the economy that can make even more profits for the landowners and further concentrate power and resources.

VII. MYTH #6: Rich vs. Poor

A. Providing assistance to hungry people in poor countries is a threat to high standards of living enjoyed by those in rich countries.

1. The terms "rich country" and "poor country" are not very meaningful when it comes to describing hunger because all countries have hungry people.

2. Furthermore, hunger is not a Third-World issue. The United States has more than twenty million people who are considered hungry while more than two billion pounds of government surplus food sit in storage.

3. Similar economic conditions are in operation to cause hunger in all countries of the world. In the U.S., and Third World countries, small and mid-size farmers are being squeezed out of business because they are unable to compete with corporate farms.

4. More and more, the economy is a world-economy.

a. Forces that affect poor people in the U.S. are the same ones that affect people in Nicaragua or Southern Africa.

b. When mega-corporations move to Mexico to take advantage of "cheap" labor, poor Mexicans are exploited and Americans lose jobs. The poor in foreign lands are not our enemy. They should be our allies in a common effort to achieve secure and satisfying lives.

c. As corporations operate ever more on the world level, labor organizations as well must encourage worker-unity on a world level.

VIII. MYTH #7: Good Will

A. Everyone wants to end hunger.

1. Corporations can benefit from hunger. Keeping land idle can create huge profits. When supplies of a particular commodity are scarce, demand and, therefore, prices rise. While land lies idle, those who are already poor are pushed further into poverty. High levels of poverty and unemployment are good for profits. When many people are desperate for work, none can demand decent wages.

2. Governments of countries that have many poor people also benefit from hunger. In some poor countries in Africa, the government can pay as little as 20 percent of the market price for crops.

Notes on Poverty and Economic Inequality is next.

Prof. Mike

GANGS

Definition:

Generally a gang can be considered to be a loosely organized group of individuals who collaborate together for social reasons. Modern day gangs now collaborate together for anti-social reasons.

A gang is a group of more than two people, through the organization, formation, and establishment of an assemblage, share a common identity. In current usage it typically denotes a criminal organization or else a criminal affiliation.

• Street gangs are very fluid in nature, and while it is fairly easy to develop intelligence information about them, many times the information is outdated almost before it is disseminated to the proper individuals.
• The key to gaining knowledge about individual groups is to talk directly with persons involved. In order to help reduce this problem, school authorities, police officials, government administrators, churches, and the community as a whole must band together, put aside our individual differences and prejudices, and work to make this a better place for us

Origin of American Gangs:

• Gangs in one form or another have been around for hundreds of years.
• The groups that traditionally come to mind when one thinks of modern day gangs are the Crips and the Bloods from California. The origins of the Crips and Bloods can be traced to the late 60's, and the gang culture is so ingrained on the west coast that many families have three and even four generations of gangsters residing in the same residence.
• It is believed that one of the Little Rock Blood gangs, the Highland Court Crew, has been in existence since 1984. Graffiti and other intelligence were noted around 1987.
• Most other area gangs formed in the late 80's and early 90's with the biggest growth year being 1990. Even though we have identified around forty gangs, almost all of them identify with the four major gangs from other states. Those are:
1. Crips - Los Angeles oriented
2. Bloods - Los Angeles oriented
3. Folk Nation - a/k/a Hoovers, BGD's, Shorty Folks, Shorties-Chicago oriented
4. People Nation – - a/k/a Vice Lords, P Stone Rangers, Blackstone Rangers, Latin Kings Chicago oriented
• The Black Gangster Disciples (a sub-group of the Hoovers) appears to be the largest denomination with the Bloods being the second largest. Some believe the Disciples and Crips are aligning on the streets as well as in the prisons, as are the Bloods and Vice-Lords.

The Media and Gangs

Gang culture is also highly glamorized by the media including television, big screen releases, and powerful, idolized hard-core rap artists who rap about revolutions and killing. This music is in great demand by both white and black kids and provides the role models for many of the dress habits and slang of today's street culture.
• Oftentimes, young peripheral or associate gang members get their first exposure to the gang culture through various aspects of the media--news shows, movies, videos, and even through the music of various artists.
• Some music and movies tend to glamorize the gang lifestyle.
• Many kids who gravitate to gangs do so out of a need to belong to something and for the power that is gained from being in a gang. The society that we live in makes alternative lifestyles very appealing.

Prison and Gangs

• While in prison, these youngsters become exposed to and indoctrinated into the world of real life gangbangers who are truly the hardest of the hard-core.
• Then, back to the streets these bangers go with more "knowledge" than ever could have been gained on the streets.
• When they are in prison, many gain rank or "juice" within their gang because they went to the "joint".
• While most kids on the streets are good kids, as long as society continues in the direction in which we are currently drifting, all kids must be considered at risk.

An Overview of Gangs

• Gangs generally have a leader or group of leaders who issue orders and reap the fruits of the gang's activities.
• A gang may also wear their "colors", wear certain types of clothing, tattoos, brands, or likewise imprint their gang's name, logo, or other identifying marks on their bodies.
• Many gangs also adopt certain types of hairstyles and communicate through the use of hand signals and graffiti on walls, streets, school work, and school property.
• It must be understood that it is not illegal to be in a gang.
• However, many gangs of today, especially youthful gangs, break the law to provide funding for gang activities or to further the gang's reputation on the streets.
• Gangs may identify with a large city gang or remain locally turf oriented.
• Development of local intelligence as well as pro-active events is a mandatory part of dealing with this problem.
• Schools must develop lines of communication with law enforcement officials in order to track and prevent gang growth and violence effectively.
• Gangs have made an evolution from being turf and brotherhood oriented to now being involved in one way or another with criminal enterprises.
• Groups that may have started out as a delinquent band of neighborhood toughs have now turned into a violent drug gang, some of whom retain a gang identity for enforcement, collection, or other reasons.
• Most gang members crave power, or "juice" as it is known in gang slang.
• Several years ago, a pecking order within a gang may have been established by flying fists. Now it is settled by flying lead.
• Joining a group known to have a reputation, good or bad, gives a kid looking for a purpose something to belong to. Participants have said the mere interaction with members; listening to one another's problems and sharing the other trials and tribulations today's teens are faced with are the drawing card for them to become a banger.
• Gang members also claim to enjoy the respect or fear others exhibit around them. Then they say, the money begins flowing, and with that comes all of the things associated with material wealth that is usually beyond the reach of these adolescents without the criminal activity of being involved in a gang.
• Once a kid gets into a gang, over and over they are told there is no way out. They fear serious reprisals from fellow gang members if a defection is suspected. Some are told they will be killed if they try to get out. Others are told that they can kill their mother to earn their way out.
• *You must remember when dealing with a kid involved in this that our beliefs must be set aside because the young person's beliefs are what we are dealing with, and you can bet that they believe everything the gang tells them.

Why join a gang?

I believe that the need for attention and the desire to obtain material goods are fast becoming the motivations driving youngsters to these groups. In order for this kid to have stayed away from the violence, a role model should have intervened with him when he was very young.
Feelings of fear, hatred, bigotry, poverty, disenfranchisement, and the general breakdown of social values are also considered motivations for joining a street group.

Sociologists as well as gang members have isolated the following reasons for joining a street gang:
• Identity
• Discipline
• Recognition
• Love
• Belonging
• Money - The current gang structure became increasingly visible at a time that paralleled the introduction of crack cocaine to the streets.
• Additionally, many kids are intimidated into gangs to avoid continued harassment. Gangs provide their members and family members with protection from other gangs as well as any other perceived threats.

"Three R's" of Gang Culture

REPUTATION/REP

• This is of critical concern to gang members.
• A rep extends not only to each individual, but to the gang as a whole.
• In some groups, status (or rank) is gained within the gang by having the most "juice" based largely on one's reputation. While being "juiced" is very important, the manner by which the gang member gains the "juice" is just as important.
• Upon interview, many gang members embellish their past gang activities in an attempt to impress their conversation partner. Gang members freely admit crimes and embellish their stories to enhance their feeling of power.
• In many gangs, to become a member, you must be "jumped in" by members of the gang. This entails being "beaten down" until the leader calls for it to end. Afterwards, all gang members hug one another to further the "G thing". This action is meant to bond the members together as a family.
• Frequently, young gang members, whether hardcore or associate, will talk of fellowship and the feeling of sharing and belonging as their reason for joining a gang.

RESPECT

• This is something everyone wants and some gang members carry their desire for it to the extreme.
• Respect is sought for not only the individual, but also for one's set or gang, family, territory, and various other things, real or perceived in the mind of the "gangbanger".
• Some gangs require that the gang member must always show disrespect to rival gang members. If a gang member witnesses a fellow member failing to dis a rival gang through hand signs, graffiti, or a simple "mad dog" or stare-down, they can issue a "violation" to their fellow posse member and he/she can actually be "beaten down" by their own gang as punishment.
• After dis has been issued, if it is witnessed, the third "R" will become evident.

RETALIATION/REVENGE

• It must be understood that in gang culture, no challenge goes unanswered.
• Many times, drive-by shootings and other acts of violence follow an event perceived as a dis.
• A common occurrence is a confrontation between a gang set and single rival gangbanger. Outnumbered, he departs the area and returns with his "homeboys" to complete the confrontation to keep his reputation intact. This may occur immediately or follow a delay for planning and obtaining the necessary equipment to complete the retaliatory strike.
• It must also be understood that many acts of violence are the result of bad drug deals or infringement on drug territory.
• Some question the authenticity of gang rivalry in shootings and other acts of violence. However, if a group of individuals are together committing either random or pre- planned violence, aren't they a gang?
• If the gang aspect is learned about, many crimes can be solved through the use of accurate intelligence gathering techniques by law enforcement agencies dealing with this problem.
• In gangbanging, today's witness is tomorrow's suspect, is the next day's victim.

Introductory Notes

Class,

Here are the notes for "Critical Thinking" and the "Sociological Approach."

WARNING: CRITICAL THINKING AHEAD

Over the past few years I have found myself frustrated with teaching social problem classes. It seemed like I covered important issues, but found my students bored or uninterested in much of the material.

In an effort to energize the students in Social Problems, the department has chosen to use John J. Macionis' Social Problems. This text does not define and describe as much as it attempts to look behind the typical expectations associated with social problems. As the essentialists would contend, our text attempt to look past observable society, the descriptive level, to the causal level, which is often abstract and difficult to understand.

Students may find some of the material in this text highly controversial. They may, in fact, vehemently disagree with some of the points raised. This is GOOD! You don’t have to agree with the material. This, after all, is only a perspective - a way at looking at the social world - and we all have different and conflicting perspectives. I would hope that, in the process, students share their points of view. I would also hope that students will be open to understanding the perspectives encountered. There are seldom right or wrong answers in Sociology - only perspectives. The trick in a class like this one is to be open to multiple perspectives.

THE SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH: SOME INITIAL OBSERVATIONS

We are what we study. The student should realize that we are participants in what we study. To investigate a social problem is to become involved. We cannot be objective like the natural scientists. People create reality as they interact in society. To study a phenomenon is to alter it.

Bias is a preference or an inclination for something. Bias can inhibit impartial judgment. Realizing that we have biases is important. We have feelings and values that determine what we study. However, once we have acknowledged our biases, we cannot only report facts that we discover that support our point of view.

The study of social problems cannot be value-free. Defining the problem to be investigated allows subjectivity to creep in. To identify a phenomenon as a problem implies that it falls short of some standard.

The sociological imagination refers to the ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society. As opposed to looking at isolated events by themselves, the student of social problems is encouraged to look at social problems in relation to other aspects of society.

TOWARD A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS

Some sociologists argue that we can judge some social problems objectively. Some social conditions are detrimental in any situation. There are conditions in society such as racism, poverty and sexism that cause material or psychological suffering for parts of the population. They prevent members of society from developing and using their full potential.

A requirement of the sociological approach to the study of social problems is that the student adapts a critical stance. It is important to note at this point that to use a critical approach is not necessarily to criticize. The critical approach calls into question existing myths, stereotypes and official dogma.

Social research is always political. There is a tendency to judge only that research that challenges the system as political. Often we hear the charge of BIAS directed only against research that finds fault with the system on behalf of the powerless. We must not automatically accept only those definitions that define social problems from the point of view of those in power.

People in power control the mass media and, therefore, control public opinion. Often relevant issues are defined by those who wield power through the media. Problems arise when the powerful, through the media, set the agenda.

1. The media may overlook conditions that are detrimental to powerless segments of society.

2. It diverts attention from what may constitute the most important social issues.

3. Attention may be diverted to specific social instances and away from the cause of many social problems.

Examples:

1. We study the criminal instead of the law or the prison system that tends to perpetuate crime.

2. We explore the culture of the poor rather than the characteristics of the rich.

3. We study the pathologies of the students rather than the inadequacies of higher education.

NORM VIOLATIONS

Norm violations assume that a standard of behavior exists. People who study norm violations are interested in society’s failures like the criminal, the mentally ill, or the school dropout. Norm violations are symptoms of social problems rather than the problem itself. Deviants, for example, are victims and should not be blamed entirely. The system in which they live should be blamed as well. Often, when one attempts to understand deviance, they will look at characteristics of the individual to explain deviance. The source of deviance is found within the social structure. Society plays a role in creating and sustaining deviance by labeling those viewed as abnormal.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE AS THE BASIC UNIT OF ANALYSIS

There is a strong tendency to blame social problems on the individual rather than on the social. For most people, the system has an aura of sacredness because of traditions and customs they associate with the system. Logically, those who deviate are the source of trouble. Because most people view themselves as law abiding, they feel those who deviate do so because of some kind of unusual circumstance: accidents, illness, personal defect or character flaw. The flaw then depends on the deviant not of societal arrangements. For example, a person-blamer may argue that a poor person is poor because he is not bright enough to succeed. In other words the deviant is the cause of his own problem.

There are consequences for blaming the individual for his own deviance.

1. Person-blame distracts attention away from institutions. It frees the government, economy and the education system from blame and ignores the strains that are caused by the inequalities within the system.

2. Person-blame makes it more difficult to institute systematic change. By excluding the existing order from blame it makes it only much harder to initiate change in economic, social, or political institutions.

3. Blaming the individual allows the government to control dissidents more easily. Deviants are sent to prisons or hospitals for rehabilitation. Such an approach directs attention away from the system.

4. Person-blame reinforces stereotypes. It tends to argue that people are placed in the system according to their ability or inability.

Sometimes individuals are the problem. Blaming the system also presents problems for social scientists as well. The system-blame approach may absolve individuals from responsibility for their actions. For example, when a robber breaks into your house, damn the problems with the system. You have problems with that particular individual.

Blaming the system tends to assume a very rigid dogmatic approach to understanding society. It tends to present a picture that people have no free will.

I tend to use the system-blame approach for a couple of reasons.

1. Sociology is concerned with societal issues and society’s institutional framework is responsible for creating many social problems.

2. Since institutions are human creations, we should change them when they no longer serve the will of the people. Accepting the system-blame approach is a necessary precondition to reconstructing society along more human needs.

Prof. Mike

Education

Class,

One problem with our educational system is conformity. Please watch the following video by Harry Chapin about conformity in our school system.





What do you think?

EDUCATION

"The cost of tuition is the price of admission to much more than a set of classes.... it’s the cost of exposure to events and concepts and, if you’re lucky, people who inspire you." ---- Rebecca Shirley

I. The American Educational Institution Education is the social institution that is responsible for transmitting knowledge, skills, and cultural values in a formally organized structure.

II. Sociological Perspectives on Education

A. Functionalist Perspectives

1. Manifest Functions a. Socialization From kindergarten through college schools teach students the student-roles, specific academic subjects, and political socialization (e.g., the importance of the democratic process)

a. Transmission of culture Schools transmit cultural norms and values to each new generation. It plays, as well, an important process in the assimilation of new immigrants. Immigrants learn the dominant cultural vales, attitudes, and behaviors so that they can be productive members in their new society.

b. Social Control Schools are responsible for teaching discipline, respect, obedience, punctuality, and perseverance. They teach conformity by teaching young people to be good students, conscientious future workers, and law abiders.

c. Social Placement: Tracking Schools are responsible for identifying the most qualified people to fill advanced positions in society. Schools often channel students into programs based on their ability and academic achievement. Graduates receive appropriate credentials for entering the paid work force. Tracking is the assigning students to specific courses and educational programs based on their test scores, previous grades, or both.

d. Change and Innovation Schools are sources of change and innovation. To meet student needs at a given time, new programs (such as AIDs education, computer education, and multicultural education are created. College and university faculty are expected to conduct research and publish new knowledge that benefits the overall society. A major goal of education is to reduce social problems.

2. Latent Functions Latent functions are the not-so-obvious functions associated with education. Some examples are the role schools play in keeping young people off the streets. School also provides the service of matchmaking. We often meet our future mates in school. The transmission of cultural values and norms is often done quietly via the hidden curriculum.

a. Cultural Capital Cultural capital are social assets such as values, beliefs, attitudes, and competencies in language and culture that they learn at home, but which are reinforced in school.

b. Hidden Curriculum The hidden curriculum is the way certain cultural values and attitudes, such as conformity and obedience to authority, are transmitted through implied demands in the everyday rules and routines of schools.

B. Conflict Perspective

1. Local Control of Schools: We finance most education in the US on a local level. We guard local control of schools "jealously." Local school boards have control over such matters as allocation of monies, curricular content, school rules, and hiring and firing policies. One positive benefit of locally based education is that we teach a greater diversity of material to the population at large. Problems related to extreme local control of schools may include the following:
· Tax bases vary from community to community. The tax base influences the quality of education provided to local students.
· Local taxes are much more subject to tax revolts than taxes assessed by higher levels of government.
· Usually ruling bodies of school boards are not representative of the total community. They often represent business and professional interests and under represent blue-collar and minority interests.
· Curriculum standards vary from school districts to school districts. This causes problems to many because the average American moves about once every five years.

2. Education as a Conserving Force. The American education system as conservative because its goal is the maintenance and preservation of culture and society. In school, we teach one to be patriotic. We teach one the myths of the culture and society. "The American way is the only really right way." Example: "Politics of the Classroom." Seldom are students taught to consider the viability of alternate approaches. How often have you been taught about Karl Marx and world government in High school? When we raise controversial subjects, pressure is brought to bear to rectify the situation. The consequence of that activity is to limit creativity and questioning attitudes of students.

3. Competition Schools teach one to be competitive. Competition extends to virtually all school activities. We see competition in athletic teams, cheer leading squads, debate teams, choruses, drill teams, bands, and casts for dramatic plays. Grading is obviously one component of the competition. There are two important "hidden lessons" embedded in such competition. The first lesson is the idea that "your class mates are your enemies" and the second is "the fear of failure."

4. The Sifting and Sorting Functions of Schools: Cooling Out the Failures Schools plays an important part in determining which youth will finally come to occupy high-status positions in society. There are two criteria: a child's ability and his or her social class. The aspect related to ability is assumed. The ascribed status, one's social class, is more hidden, but none-the-less plays a major role in the way teachers relate to a child.

a. Cooling Out The classroom is not only an area where students "learn to succeed," they also learn how to fail. "Cooling-out" refers to the process where schools handle "the failures." Society does not want a group of disenchanted and rejected people running the streets waging revolution against the system that rejected them. Citizens must not identify the social system with the problems experienced by ordinary people. The blame has to be directed at the individual.

b. Steps in the Cooling-Out Process Cooling-out happens at various levels.

1. Self Selection Many students do not even have to be cooled-out, because they learned at an early age "that they were stupid." Many failures cannot wait to get as far away from school as possible. They experience complete alienation.

2. The Ideology of Stupidity For those who need a little cooling-out, one often uses ideology, individualism, and equal opportunity. Schools teach students that people make their own way up the latter of success based on their own abilities. If you do not make it, it is your own fault. The individual is to blame.

3. The School Counselor For those whom ideological messages do not convince, there is the school counselor. Counselors will direct you to areas that are "more suited to your abilities." The counselor may say to a student "You will be happier doing something else."

4. Look at Those Who Passed Another technique used in "cooling-out" poor students who came from lower SES's is to point to members from that student's particular group who have made it. Obviously many have made it, but their numbers are few. The act of allowing some members of poor populations to "pass" may do a great deal to keep the lid on social revolution on a more general scale.

5. The Preoccupation with Order and Control Another function of school is to instill a sense of order and control. "School is a collective experience requiring subordination of individual needs to those of the school."

a. The Clock and the Tyranny of the Schedule Among the constraints placed on the individual freedom are constraints related to "the clock." Activities begin and end on highly regimented schedules and no one addresses these activities according to the interest of the student or the learning obtained. This is called "the tyranny of the lesson plan." There is a preoccupation with discipline.

b. The Dress Code The quest for conformity may take the form of "dress codes." Example: Dress Codes in the Inner City. Dress codes are coming back into vogue in some school districts, but the conformity that this involves is welcome by many. In poor neighborhoods, competition (drug monies enhance this problem) has become so extreme that children are killing children in school over arguments involving who has the "badest threads." By requiring children to wear uniforms, schools hope to remove this element of competition."

c. Give the Answer the Teacher Expects Schools also teach conformity through more academic matters, such as the setting of margins. The student learns to answer questions about what teachers expects. The belief in order is so important that schools rate teachers, not on their ability to get students to learn, but on their ability to keep quiet and order in the class room.

d. What You Remember and What You Forget Maintaining discipline is more important than student self-inquiry. Schools see learning to be a secondary consideration when compared with the order and social control aspects of education. The notion presented suggests that after 12 years of school, many students have forgotten how to do algebra, they have learned to hate literature, and they cannot write. Nevertheless, students can follow orders. They give up expecting things to make sense . . . things are true because the teacher says they are true. Miss Wiedemeyer tells you a noun is a person, place or thing. So, let it be. You do not give a rat's ass and she does not give a rat's ass. The important thing is to please her. Back in Kindergarten, you found out that teachers only love children that stand in nice straight lines. And that's where it's been ever since.

III. Problems in U.S. Education

A. What Can Be Done About Illiteracy?

1. Functionally illiterate is being unable to read and/or write at the skill level necessary for carrying out everyday tasks.

Notes on Wealth and Power is next.

Prof. Mike