Madame Gets Answered

Madame:

Your question is complex. The answer partly depends on perspective on “evil” and “reformed (or transformed).”  The communist countries of Russia (and some other parts of the Soviet Union), as well as China, transformed their educational systems, as has Cuba, effectively going from largely illiterate to almost completely literate.

During much of the Progressive period in both Europe and the Americas, great reforms and forward strides were made in education.  The “relaxation” and “flowering” of here-thereto rigid German education was a part of this, although it would not see its full measure until after WW2.

Both Ghana and South Africa—for different reasons—have made significant reforms to their educational systems.

Israel—and Palestine, surprisingly—have instituted impressive educational systems, of course with different circumstances and different result measurements.

Considering the beginning and the rocky initial steps, Australian education has come impressively far.

The “Little Tigers” (e.g. S. Korea, Taiwan, etc.) built their now solid systems from nearly scratch, although, to be fair, they had a good amount of cultural legacy help.

Turkey after the Ottomans at the same time both consolidated and created whole cloth a new universal education system.  Of course, for 20 or more years, it was effectively under the control and direction of one set of people.

Even the American South  made impressive strides after the Civil War, albeit with some significant setbacks, going from a scant system to a pervasive one.

And the model we keep bringing up—Finland—was dissatisfied with its educational system and went through its own reform period after World War Two.

Yet there is a place I have mentioned before that probably best meets your question’s answer: Japan.  It is an incredible Japanese trait to be resistant to much change until the culture senses an overwhelming need, then change is dramatic and nearly total. Even pre-1868, some strides in education had been made, but the Meiji Restoration infused incredible transformative energy into the whole country—including education.  Setbacks, stifling, and even some degeneration occurred shortly up to and through WW2, but not too long after, another great change occurred, and the Japanese leapt forward.

Your sentiment about corporations and their employees after The Great Recession seems quite accurate.  Can you imagine what a Great Depression, sans a Rooseveltian interventionist administration and Congress, would degrade the attitude and treatment to?

Unions are often necessary, given the structure of capitalism, especially American capitalism.  They need governmental oversight of course.  Sometimes unions can be corrupt, selfish, short-sighted, frustrating, limiting its members’ productivity to the average or mediocre, and susceptible, when its members are minimally educated, to emotional manipulation and other malevolent things. 

I’ve known people who got turned against unions because of the above.  I myself  worked at a place during one summer where I had to pay union dues but got few of the benefits and a whole lot of poor treatment. 

Yet the alternative—no or weak unions—has been in the general shown to be QUITE disadvantageous to the average American worker—and the middle class as a whole.

Banned Books week—perpetual vigilance needed, especially in an era that is, for far too many Americans, post-book.   Apathy can be a catalyst for reactionary malevolence.

Well, I meant to get to talking about last week’s barely media-covered 400,000 person march in NYC on climate change, but I see my windbaggery has shelved that!