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Yeah, I edited that in to make it clearer. This is one odd thing about Europe: in some ways it is left of the US, but in other ways quite right of the US. To ta
by _delirium 12y ago
Yeah, I edited that in to make it clearer. This is one odd thing about Europe: in some ways it is left of the US, but in other ways quite right of the US. To take an example I'm familiar with in academia (I've worked in both American and Danish universities), Danish universities are more progressive in one sense: there is no tuition, education is free and universal. But in return, they are also much more shamelessly neoliberal about the goal of the university: the goal of universities is to increase the Danish GDP. Both their educational and research activities are measured by the extent to which they "create value for Denmark". That view exists in the US too, but only the right wing really buys into it full stop, whereas in Denmark even the Social Democrats hold it, and have recently initiated a set of university reforms on that basis.
- digi_owl 12y agoI guess the thing to consider is that at some point the European left adopted the idea that educating society was the way to the leftist dream of a egalitarian society. Problem is that most of the leftist parties at that time were run by people that had little to no actual worker background, and the situation has since become ever more solidified. End result is a quiet disdain for people that choose industry or service work over a university degree.