Why England’s rulers are a bunch of whackos — boarding schools and Privileged Abandonment

24 06 2014

explains a lot …

//////  re-post was ‘removed  ///////

STORY:

The Guardian –

Why boarding schools produce bad leaders

The elite tradition is to send children away at a young age to be educated. But future politicians who suffer this ‘privileged abandonment’ often turn out as bullies or bumblers. A psychotherapist explains why

In Britain, the link between private boarding education and leadership is gold-plated. If their parents can afford it, children are sent away from home to walk a well-trodden path that leads straight from boarding school through Oxbridge to high office in institutions such as the judiciary, the army, the City and, especially, government. Our prime minister was only seven when he was sent away to board at Heatherdown preparatory school in Berkshire. Like so many of the men who hold leadership roles in Britain, he learned to adapt his young character to survive both the loss of his family and the demands of boarding school culture. The psychological impact of these formative experiences on Cameron and other boys who grow up to occupy positions of great power and responsibility cannot be overstated. It leaves them ill-prepared for relationships in the adult world and the nation with a cadre of leaders who perpetuate a culture of elitism, bullying and misogyny affecting the whole of society. . . . .

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jun/09/boarding-schools-bad-leaders-politicians-bullies-bumblers

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Class Warfare – Essay

7 04 2011

Class Warfarin: Hemorrhaging, Part II by Joseph Natoli

. . . .  As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sees it, Egyptians are revolting in the hope of gaining “greater political and economic freedom.” They want a “peaceful transition to democracy, not faux democracy.” That’s what Hillary Clinton and presumably the Obama administration hope. What is actually be the case is that 1 in 3 males between the ages of 15 and 29 are unemployed in Egypt, which has a poverty rate of 21.6%. The unemployed young have no access to the ruling elite and are now achieving revolutionary access. The Egyptians want jobs, want a livable income, want to be able to feed their families and provide a good education for their children. They want some share in the country’s prosperity.

Sound familiar? It’s not “economic freedom” in the entrepreneurial sense of being free to start a business but economic equality, or some fair degree of it, that is the economic issue. Elite areas in Cairo have been looted, clearly signifying that this is a class war exploding. But Egypt has a 34.4 Gini coefficient rating (100 representing a situation where one person has all the money) while the U.S. has a 45 Gini rating. And right now the unemployment rate for the young stands at close to 27% for the young in the U.S. while 1 out of 4 black Americans remains unemployed. The wealth divide is not as great in Egypt as it is right now in the U.S.. Might we then be the next to face this outburst of anger and frustration and might we not be wise to attend to our own class warfare? We need to recognize that it’s not a classic Marxist class warfare that presents itself now but one that view as a poisoning across lines which I describe as “Class Warfarin.” . . .  (more)

http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2011/04/03/class-warfarin-hemorrhaging-part-ii-by-joseph-natoli/


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