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The government decides to try to increase the middle class by subsidizing things that middle class people have: If middle-class people go to college and own homes, then surely if more people go to college and own homes, we’ll have more middle-class people. But homeownership and college aren’t causes of middle-class status, they’re markers for possessing the kinds of traits — self-discipline, the ability to defer gratification, etc. — that let you enter, and stay, in the middle class. Subsidizing the markers doesn’t produce the traits; if anything, it undermines them.Well said. When the emphasis switches from equality of opportunity to equality of results, there's reduced incentive to put forth the effort to make opportunities. Instead of teaching people class envy, society should quote Samuel Goldwyn more often...
Friday, September 24, 2010
Quote of the day
From Instapundit (emphasis mine):
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2 comments:
Read "Generation Me". Since the '60s children have been taught that self-esteem produces achievement. Thus we give away prizes, jobs, and praise regardless of qualification. The book's author shows factual studies that prove the opposite. But that proof can't reverse a belief that has come to be held, taught, and crammed into children with intense fervor.
The problem is we fail to distinguish between the basic intrinsic worth of every human being (based on the imago dei), and the need for one to work toward accomplishments.
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