The New Humanism
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- Category: Educational
- Created: Thursday, 10 March 2011 04:52
- Published: Thursday, 10 March 2011 04:46
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Over the course of my career, Ive covered a number of policy failures. When the Soviet Union fell, we sent in teams of economists, oblivious to the lack of social trust that marred that society. While invading Iraq, the nations leaders were unprepared for the cultural complexities of the place and the psychological aftershocks of Saddams terror.
We had a financial regime based on the notion that bankers are rational creatures who wouldnt do anything stupid en masse. For the past 30 years weve tried many different ways to restructure our educational system trying big schools and little schools, charters and vouchers that, for years, skirted the core issue: the relationship between a teacher and a student.
Ive come to believe that these failures spring from a single failure: reliance on an overly simplistic view of human nature. We have a prevailing view in our society not only in the policy world, but in many spheres that we are divided creatures. Reason, which is trustworthy, is separate from the emotions, which are suspect. Society progresses to the extent that reason can suppress the passions.