I currently attend Grade Eleven at an academic high school that is widely acclaimed as one of the best, if not the best, high school in all of Western Canada. Our current topic of discussion is economics. As the government holds a monopoly on education, I think that what we are taught is, in general, being taught all over Canada (or at least Alberta).
We were give a “sample essay”, written by a student, that recieved perfect marks according to Alberta Education requirements. I just want to show you what passes as 100% these days. I’m not going to reprint this entire essay, only several choice sections that best represent its overall intellectual state.
The topic is (judging from the content of the essay): poverty and how it relates to different economic sysyems
Introduction Paragraph:
“Poverty is defined as the state of being poor. While some people believe that poverty is a natural part of life, relating it to the “survival of the fittest”, poverty has a dettrimental effect on society. Everyone may not be born with equal abilities, but all are equal as human beings. If no help is offered to the impoverished, then society must carry the burden of crime but most importantly, the burden of lost potential. Governments should provide for citizens to the extent that their basic needs are fulfilled, including food, shelter, physical and psychological security. The government should not completely intervene in the economy like the U.S.S.R., nor should it maintain a completely laissez-faire approach like the U.S.A. Instead, governments need to take a balanced role, providing all citizens with the basic platform to develop potential without impeding on their motivation and initiative.”
(grammar mistakes are included)
The essay then proceeds to bash the Stalinist system of government, pertaining to it’s lack of efficiency.
The following is all one paragraph, but I split it in order to make it readable.
"Too little government intervention, however, also does not decrease poverty. The American economy is propelled by the profit motive, which often leads to the demoralization of the people and increased poverty. Even during the Industrial Revolution, capitalists were more converned with making money that providing humane conditions. Since the capitalist ethic preached no government intervention, buisinesses were free to do as they wished. Children, men, and women are exploited, having to work 12-hour days under atorcious conditions. Children were chained to machines and those who objected were beaten. The workers returned home to slums, that were overcrowded, badly lit and poorly ventilated. Garbage and wastes filled the streets. Crime, prostitution and poverty increased dramatically.
Even today, the American economy is motivated by the desire to sell, leading to the denigration of the society. For example, marketers have tapped into the power of sex to sell. Sex has become such a common feature of AMerican society that most people are desensitized to it. The sex mania has put greater pressure on youner people to engage in sexual activity. It has degraded the image of women to purely sexual objects, who should be subservient to males. This has caused rippling effects on the American society, increasing teen pregnancies, prostitution, rape, child pornography, and sexual offenders. Those things that are the most profitable are not necessarily the best for society. The government needs to intervene to protect society and its values.
The laissez-faire system not only demoralizes the people, but also creates instability. THe lack of government intervention during 1929, led a small group of financial investors to manipulate the stocks in what today would be called insider trading. The stock market crash propelled the depression. It was not the only factor, however, to cause it. Lack of government intervention, allowed huge corporations like GMC and General Electric to increase their production substantially, while wages did not increase. This lead to demand being lower than the high supply. Thousands of banks failed, again due to lack of government intervention. If the government had intervened in the economy to provide Federal Deposit Insurance, then the banks would not have collapsed because the government would have ensured people’s savings.
The greatest factor leading to the Depression, though, was the large gap between the rich and poor. Large corporations were increasing their profits, while wages remained stagnant. Five percent of the population was earning one third of the country’s income. The rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer. The purchasing power of the average AMerican citizen became dangeorusly low. The economy was fuelled by consumer spending and collapsed once the average citizen was unable to afford basic amenities. All of the factors which caused the Depression had one common feature, lack of government intervention. The government did nothing to intervene or help the economy, leading to one of the worst periods of economic recession in the world, the Great Depression.
During this period, people were depsperately poor. One fourth of the labour force was unemployed. One hundred thousand businesses failed, five thousand banks failed and wages declined by forty percent. The standard of living declined substantially. People struggled to afford food and shelter. The economic disarray and resulting plight of the people forced the government to implement drastic measures. Like Gorbachev who introducted perestroika to help the struggling economy, President Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. The American laissez-faire system does not decrease poverty and fosters a demoralized population with an unstable economy."
Honestly, the blatant lack of logic and misrepresentation of history are so obvious that they are not even worth mentioning.
If THIS is considered a role model essay for a graduating student (this was written in a Social Studies 30 IB class)…then… :lol:
Even worse is that I have to write one too. They want an illogical essay glorifying the current mixed economy state of Canada, and, sadly, a thorough defense of capitalism is going to be all but impossible in the time limit, given that the ABOVE is accepted unquestionably and as the ideal. :huh:
Don’t worry though; the last thing I am going to do is compromise on this important a topic.
