Saturday, December 04, 2004
76 trombones
amanda butler at crescat continues to write movingly and thoughtfully about her life in the peace corp in
kazakhstan. young people don't have jobs, school clubs, or much in the way of independent entrepreneurialism. meanwhile the schools are corrupt.
she suggests school bands, model UN, that sort of thing. in my 3 years of high school,
i was a B student, but an activities geek. i got my first kiss in model UN,
was active in scouts, chess club, bridge club, everything except sports or band,
which required musical or athletic ability.
A society that doesn't have that has a social vacuum, open to religious cults, political movements, punk rock, anything that would provide a cause and a sense of belonging to something meaningful. or that's how it is here - maybe kazakh family and social structures are complete in some way we aren't seeing.
The internet, with its open source revolution, and islamofanaticism, are two possible directions. If there is a social vaccuum, a charismatic leader can be a catalyst. Harold Hill, Lyndon Johnson as a new deal adminstrator in Texas, there's no shortage of such guys. The cautionary tale comes when you look at Gary today, and compare it to Gary before Hill came along. Industrialization brought immigration that wiped out the traditional culture. I have no answers, only concerns.
In my culture, Horatio Alger stories were common and believable. One grandfather was a farm kid who got into oil and left an estate worth a million, while my other grandfather was farm kid who was first in his class at la sorbonne and became a department chair. It was just sort of taken for granted that us kids would go on to do great things. I'm the black sheep, and I'm a doctor (juris) and a lawyer, even if broke and crazy. In a society as corrupt as Amanda paints Kazakhstan, a little ruthlessness helps - see Joe Kennedy, LBJ. But in each case they had family drama that produced that ruthlessness. With a history of stalinism, the kazakhs probably have plenty of drama like that. Can an ethical but motivated kid make it there?
I would say yes; it sounds there are tons of opportunites for commerce, and enough oil to fund bootstrapped development. What then would provide the motivation?
Or how to those with the motivation connect to those with the knowhow?
Ah, junior achievement, maybe that's it.
Or, it sounds like the girls aren't getting to college - maybe free online schooling is the answer. I dunno. Today, no answers, only questions.
amanda butler at crescat continues to write movingly and thoughtfully about her life in the peace corp in
kazakhstan. young people don't have jobs, school clubs, or much in the way of independent entrepreneurialism. meanwhile the schools are corrupt.
she suggests school bands, model UN, that sort of thing. in my 3 years of high school,
i was a B student, but an activities geek. i got my first kiss in model UN,
was active in scouts, chess club, bridge club, everything except sports or band,
which required musical or athletic ability.
A society that doesn't have that has a social vacuum, open to religious cults, political movements, punk rock, anything that would provide a cause and a sense of belonging to something meaningful. or that's how it is here - maybe kazakh family and social structures are complete in some way we aren't seeing.
The internet, with its open source revolution, and islamofanaticism, are two possible directions. If there is a social vaccuum, a charismatic leader can be a catalyst. Harold Hill, Lyndon Johnson as a new deal adminstrator in Texas, there's no shortage of such guys. The cautionary tale comes when you look at Gary today, and compare it to Gary before Hill came along. Industrialization brought immigration that wiped out the traditional culture. I have no answers, only concerns.
In my culture, Horatio Alger stories were common and believable. One grandfather was a farm kid who got into oil and left an estate worth a million, while my other grandfather was farm kid who was first in his class at la sorbonne and became a department chair. It was just sort of taken for granted that us kids would go on to do great things. I'm the black sheep, and I'm a doctor (juris) and a lawyer, even if broke and crazy. In a society as corrupt as Amanda paints Kazakhstan, a little ruthlessness helps - see Joe Kennedy, LBJ. But in each case they had family drama that produced that ruthlessness. With a history of stalinism, the kazakhs probably have plenty of drama like that. Can an ethical but motivated kid make it there?
I would say yes; it sounds there are tons of opportunites for commerce, and enough oil to fund bootstrapped development. What then would provide the motivation?
Or how to those with the motivation connect to those with the knowhow?
Ah, junior achievement, maybe that's it.
Or, it sounds like the girls aren't getting to college - maybe free online schooling is the answer. I dunno. Today, no answers, only questions.
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