![]() Instead of growing the pie, the explosive expansion of the banking sector has increased the share it serves itself.4 Or take the legal profession. And yet, these days, banks have become so big that much of what they do is merely shuffle wealth around, or even destroy it. ![]() Banks can help to spread risks and back people with bright ideas. There’s no denying that the financial sector can contribute to our wealth and grease the wheels of other sectors in the process. “Of course, there’s no clear line between who creates wealth and who shifts it. If the aim of education is to roll with these kinds of trends rather than upend them, then egotism is set to be the quintessential twenty-first-century skill. If current trends hold, countries like Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland will become even bigger tax havens, enabling multinationals to dodge taxes even more effectively, leaving developing countries with an even shorter end of the stick. In 2030, there will likely be a high demand for savvy accountants untroubled by a conscience. Invariably, it all revolves around the question: Which knowledge and skills do today’s students need to get hired in tomorrow’s job market – the market of 2030? Which is precisely the wrong question. On “problem-solving ability,” but not which problems need solving. On the education conference circuit, an endless parade of trend watchers prophesy about the future and essential twenty-first-century skills, the buzzwords being “creative,” “adaptable,” and “flexible.” The focus, invariably, is on competencies, not values. Education is consistently presented as a means of adaptation – as a lubricant to help you glide more effortlessly through life. ![]() All the big debates in education are about format. “If there’s one place, then, where we can intervene in a way that will pay dividends for society down the road, it’s in the classroom. Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There It’s supposedly futile because we can’t pay for it, dangerous because people would quit working, and perverse because ultimately a minority would end up having to toil harder to support the majority.” Compare this with the arguments against basic income. Many a great mind, from the philosopher Plato (427–347 B.C.) to the statesman Edmund Burke (1729–97), warned that democracy was futile (the masses were too foolish to handle it), dangerous (majority rule would be akin to playing with fire), and perverse (the “general interest” would soon be corrupted by the interests of some crafty general or other). ![]() Not so very long ago, democracy still seemed a glorious utopia. But Hirschman also wrote that almost as soon as a utopia becomes a reality, it often comes to be seen as utterly commonplace. According to renowned sociologist Albert Hirschman, utopias are initially attacked on three grounds: futility (it’s not possible), danger (the risks are too great), and perversity (it will degenerate into dystopia). “The great milestones of civilization always have the whiff of utopia about them at first. ![]()
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