I listened to some of the hour the other night about Oprah’s school for girls in South Africa. Impressive.
Not to the level of Gandhi or Mother Theresa, but impressive none the less.
I have no idea what it would be like to have such wealth as Oprah. It’s hers and I am sure she earned every dime of it. I would be loathe to criticize anyone whose path I have not traveled. My criticism is like a gnat on a horse. I’ll never accomplish what she has, amass the fortune she has, or be in the position to do something this grand. But blogging allows one the illusion that what one writes is somehow important.
And, there is no doubt that some, all, most of the girls featured have gotten the end of the proverbial stick that no one should have to pick up.
And, I do think she’s right. Education is the road out of poverty.
And, I do think that she’s a classic American liberal of the political left who thinks that she can change the world FOR other people rather than let them do it themselves. That seems egotistical in the extreme and to be condescendingly saying “you’re to weak and stupid to do it on your own”. But that’s “liberal left”. (As opposed to the Classical Liberals of the Enlightenment whose ideas spawned America and gave us the concepts of individual liberty and empowerment.)
OK, so here’s my critique.
Why not the inner city of Chicago?
Now I know she said that she couldn’t find the motivated kids. And, it has to be cheaper to do this in South Africa. And, it makes her a global celebrity. And, I don’t see how it can fail unless the teachers are closet perverts.
But my modest question is why not Chicago?
I’d tackle that by trying to show the poor, disadvantaged, and minority that it’s up to them. They have to grab their bootstraps and pull themselves out of their current mess. Gooferment can’t do it. The taxpayers can’t do it. Oprah can’t do it.
I’d attack the gooferment of the US, Illinois, and Chicago as being the root of all their problems. They have fooled them into thinking that there’s a “White Knight Prince Charming” that is going to ride in and save the day. Oprah could get away with telling them that “no one is coming”. Bill Cosby tried and got excoriated for it. Katrina and NOLA demonstrated it. Maybe she could pull it off?
She’s on the right track with her “education out of poverty”. I’d want her to dismantle the “publik skoolz” as a sham. An illusion that they give any real education. That they were anything more than training grounds for prisons.
If I was Oprah, I’d hit the economics, crime, and welfare. I’d have a new twenty year plan to zero taxes, close the “publik skoolz”, and end the dole. I’d stop prosecuting victimless crimes — drugs, prostitution, and gambling and really go after crimes involving force or fraud.
Would it be traumatic? Yes!
I don’t think it would take twenty years for Chicago to be the shining city.
My only concern would be what would we do with all the lying, pandering, corrupt politicians. Well, they do have Lake Michigan. I’m sure they won’t seek honest employment without a struggle.
And, when this was all done, the people could say “we did it ourselves”. That’s the Spirit of America.
SO to circle back on Oprah’s school, I think she solved an easier problem.
So why not Chicago?
And, after that why girls? We know that boys are getting a terrible shake in today’s skoolz.
The Socialists of the 1920’s wanted a system of creating an uneducated lower class that would be manageable, make good soldiers or factory workers, and capable of being led by their “betters”. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
So, Oprah, why not Chicago? And, why not boys?
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