Education and Consumerism are Scams

Education and Consumerism are Scams

Derived from…
Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable
Previously
How Work Has Changed

RAP2 : How You Became a Cog
PROFIT : “Do well at school and you’ll get a good job.” Were you sold this line too? It worked for a while and it no longer does. There are no longer great jobs where someone tells you specifically what to do. Now, it’s up to you to turn your job into great work.

The Two Scams
Sometimes we’re unwittingly lead astray. A game is set up for us to play yet the rules are stacked against us so we cannot win. Here’s two scams that turned you into a cog in the machine…
1 Education
The first scam:

Be good at school and you’ll get a good job.

This was okay during the Industrial Revolution when we needed to convert farm hands into factory workers.
We were taught just enough to get the job done.
And, not too much where we’d start to think independently and upset the system.
So, sit down, shut up and listen.
And, if you fit in, follow the rules and pass our standardized tests we’ll promote you.
Does that remind you of school?
Work?
And it applies to both factory workers and office workers.
Our place on the assembly line simply got swapped for a cubicle.
Work is still planned, controlled and measured for you.
At least you now have air conditioning!

2 Consumption
Capitalism needs compliant workers and it needs consumers too.
And, that’s the second scam:

Consume lots of goods so we can avoid over-production and keep the economy growing.

We’ve been so well-trained in this we still buy stuff to be happy even though we know it doesn’t fulfil us.
Want to go shopping?

Your Choice
You have a choice… You can either control and protect the existing system or expand it and explore new possibilities.
What’s it going to be?
Choose!