There are days when it feels like living in the last century or so of the
Roman empire; maybe that's just gray October talking, with some very strang=
e
political doings afoot, but those who make economic forecasts don't seem to
be talking about a return to rosier days while at the same time the biggest
money seems to be getting, if anything, a bit bigger as the rest of the
world looks for ways to tighten its collective belt.
And we're all educatin' as fast and hard as we can, with every school
website awash in words like leadership and responsibility. Hope there's
really enough substance behind those words to offer some real hope of real
change before the lights start growing dim.
Back to proofreading letters of recommendation. I promise to take a deep
breath and find something to laugh about before the day is through; being
around kids tends to help in that regard.
Cheers--Peter Gow
Peter Gow
Director of College Counseling and Special Programs
Beaver Country Day School
791 Hammond Street
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467
www.bcdschool.org
617-738-2755 (O)
617-738-2747 (F)
petergow3 (Skype)
On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 3:26 PM, Fred Bartels <fredbartels@gmail.com> wrote=
:
> Bill,
>
> Thanks for your comments. As always thoughtful and insightful.
>
> The evidence seems very compelling that growing economic inequality is
> doing
> our society much harm.
>
> Fred
>
>
>
> On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 11:47 AM, Bill Ivey <bivey01370@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi!
> >
> > Very interesting article, Fred. Thanks for passing it on. I pull out
> > these quotes:
> > "So, we're not simply talking about how inequality affects the poor.
> > These effects seem to affect the vast majority of the population."
> > "It isn't that health is worse in the poorest areas of our societies,
> > but it's worse in societies with bigger income differences between
> > rich and poor."
> > "In the more equal states, two thirds of the population feel they can
> > trust other people. And down in your most unequal U.S. states, and I'm
> > afraid New York comes at the absolute bottom =E2=80=94 but so do some o=
f the
> > southern states =E2=80=94 only about a third trust each other."
> > "Inequality is damaging to the social quality of life of all of
> > us....) More equality seems to switch social relationships from being
> > about status competition, where we think of where we are in relation
> > to each other to how much we see each other as cooperative and mutual
> > and with reciprocity and empathy being important."
> > "And we find actually that innovation seems to be lower in more
> > unequal societies, not higher."
> >
> > I see this as information I would want to share with our students and
> > parents, to begin to shift the dialogue around alleviating the effects
> > of poverty. It may serve to engage more people than the other
> > approach, and at a minimum puts accurate information out there to
> > which people can react. As noted in the article, a strong reluctance
> > on the part of Americans to discuss inequality will be a major
> > stumbling block in creating conversation. Ironic, isn't it? that
> > Americans (many of us anyway) are so committed to equality that we
> > won't even entertain the notion that we might fall short in some
> > areas.
> >
> > A quick reaction. Thanks for bringing it up!
> >
> > Take care,
> > Bill Ivey
> > Stoneleigh-Burnham School
> >
> > On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 7:10 AM, Fred Bartels <fredbartels@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> > > http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04022010/transcript_inequality.html
> >
> > [ For info on ISED-L see
> https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=3D128874]
> > Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attributio=
n,
> > non-commercial, share-alike license.
> > RSS Feed, http://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?RSS&L=3DISED-L
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Fred Bartels
> Dir. of Info. Tech.
> Rye Country Day School
>
> [ For info on ISED-L see https://www.gds.org/podium/default.aspx?t=3D1288=
74]
> Submissions to ISED-L are released under a creative commons, attribution,
> non-commercial, share-alike license.
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>
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