Christmas Day at the Hudson-Haas household was generally peaceful. (The label refers to the two Hudsons living here — my daughter Ursala and myself — and the three Haas members — son-in-law Chris and my grandchildren, Simone and Amelie.) We started off the morning with the traditional opening of presents, and then sat down in the dining room to a satisfying breakfast with some of Chris’ family — a menu built around our traditional Christmas menu of waffles with strawberries and whipped cream.
When the festivities had quieted down, I sat down to read a few more pages in my current book: What’s Worth Learning, by educator Marion Brady — a gentleman who began teaching in 1952, the year I was born. Mr. Brady has been observing the changes in our school systems for almost 70 years — and has also observed the stagnation evident within those same systems. Reading his short but idea-challenging book, I was pleased to find that his basic approach to education (an approach not currently popular in America) is built upon some of the same ideas we used in designing the Pagosa Peak Open School, our community’s first District-authorized charter school.
Yesterday, I came upon the following paragraph in a discussion about the supposed “experts” who were driving some of “progressive” school reform efforts in America when the book was published — people like Michael Bloomberg, Bill Gates, Arne Duncan, Jeb Bush, Joel Klein. In Mr. Brady’s view, these reformers (none of whom have actually taught in a classroom) all subscribe to what he calls “Theory T” — the generally-accepted theory that the main job of a school system is to “Transfer” information from adults (teachers, counselors, computers, media) into the mostly-empty heads of children. Needless to say, this is not Mr. Brady’s theory of education.
From that chapter:
At an August conference in Lake Tahoe, California, Bill Gates clinched his Theory T credentials. “Five years from now,” he said, “on the web for free you’ll be able to find the best lectures in the world.”
Let the transfer process begin!
I was struck by that sentence, because it’s now been about 10 years since entrepreneur Bill Gates made this claim, and indeed, there are some amazing lectures available “on the web for free.” (Assuming you have access to a Web-enabled device and can find a convenient Internet connection.) In fact, some of the most fascinating information I’ve ever come across in my life has been provided online, for free, in YouTube videos known as TED Talks. From the TED website:
TED is a nonpartisan nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks. TED began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 110 languages. Meanwhile, independently run TEDx events help share ideas in communities around the world.
I imagine most of our Daily Post readers have run across these 18-minute-long lectures, by rather brilliant people, on an amazing variety of topics. History. Politics. Art. Music. Psychology. Sociology. Engineering. Economics.
Ah, yes. Economics.
I put down Marion Brady’s book and headed into my office. Why had I never looked up any TED Talk videos about economics? I often express my opinions about the economics of Pagosa Springs here on the Daily Post website, without having much academic background in the subject. Perhaps TED has some useful information available… for free?
What better way to spend Christmas, than trying to improve my understanding of Economics.
A couple of inspiring videos later, I came across a British economist named Kate Raworth. Here is a 15-minute TED Talk by Ms. Raworth, summarizing some of her current ideas about the global economy.
From the TED Talks website, Kate Raworth writes: “I am a renegade economist, dedicated to rewriting economics so that it’s fit for tackling the 21st century’s grand challenge of meeting the needs of all people within the means of the planet. After 20 years of wrestling with policies based on outdated economic theories — via the villages of Zanzibar to the headquarters of the UN and on the campaigning front lines of Oxfam — I realized that if the economic conversations taking place in parliaments, in boardrooms and in the media worldwide are going to change, then the fundamental economic ideas taught in schools and universities have to be transformed, too.
“I wrote Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist to be the book that I wish I could have read when I was a frustrated and disillusioned economics student myself. And silly though it sounds, it all starts with a doughnut (yes, the kind with a hole in the middle), which acts as a compass for 21st-century prosperity, inviting us to rethink what the economy is, and is for, who we are, and what success looks like.”
In the video above (which I believe you will find stimulating, if you haven’t yet watched it already) Ms. Raworth makes the claim that European-American economists have built their theories, over the past 100 years, on a basically-flawed model of human existence — the model of Endless Growth — and that we can no longer embrace that model, if we truly want to survive through the 21st century.
Some of our community leaders here in Pagosa Springs are concerned about growth. The particular focus of their concerns, at the moment, are related to a decision made by four Town Council members on November 5, 2019. Actually, two closely related decisions were made that evening. The first decision defined 27 vacant acres on Hot Springs Boulevard, adjacent to the Springs Resort, as dangerously blighted. The second decision — with three of the seven Council members voting “No” — was to create a new layer of government within the Pagosa Springs town limits, called an Urban Renewal Authority.
Some community leaders believe it was a mistake to create an Urban Renewal Authority at the request of the Springs Resort, because under Colorado law, this Authority has the power to extract future tax revenues from every tax-funded agency in the community without the permission of those agencies.
Some community leaders feel that, if an Urban Renewal Authority is to operate in Archuleta County, the Authority’s commissioners ought to properly represent all of the agencies that will be contributing future taxes to “urban renewal” projects. On December 19, the Town Council voted 6-to-1 to deny full representation of the taxing districts on the Authority commission.
Like the enormous gang of university and government economists, of whose theories Ms. Raworth is critical, most community leadership in Pagosa Springs believes that Endless Growth is not only inevitable, but also desirable.
… Or do they?
… And is it?