even though I don’t homeschool….
As Ron Paul pointed out, the real conspiriacy is a conspiriacy of ideas. My point is that there is a conspiracy of incentives.
It isn’t just “the public school establishment” that opposes homeschooling. The entire corporate culture of the Western world thrives on making deals to get access to mass markets on the best terms possible. Offering expensive medication to the few that will be diagnosed is not enough for the mental “health” pharma industry (for example). No. They are much better off with mandatory “screening” and diagnosing and proscribing in public schools. The more children are allowed to opt out, the less they have to win.
And what is true of the pharmacracy is true of many other corporations.
Yesterday RadioTimes interviewed JEROME WAKEFIELD co-author with Allan Horowitz of “The Loss of Sadness: How Psychiatry Transformed Normal Sorrow into Depressive Disorder.”
http://www.whyy.org/rameta/RT/2008/RT20080102_20_2.ram
He has some discussion of the faulty epidemiology that leads lawmakers to assume there are vast numbers of un-noticed depressives.
We’ve discussed that to death in homeschool circles. I beleive it’s mostly the tin foil hat crowd over reacting. See here for way more than you probably care to read.
http://cobranchi.com/?s=mental+health+screening
Chris, I’ve noticed in several of my more dour political posts that I could be taken two ways (in my own mind): 1. You should be worried about this. OR 2. You should consider whether or not you should be worried about this.
I’m quite open to deciding the present worries are unfounded. But I do think it is realistic to disagree with this post and say that there is a “natural constituency” for this sort of thing: in this case, big pharma.
And whether or not voters want something is not the only factor. Politicians can only win if they can afford to campaign. Thus, the promise of funds can give politicians a reason to risk voter displeasure.
So I think the corporate/political dynamics of democracy favor these sorts of policies. Doesn’t mean that those are the only dynamics, or that the worst is happening yet.
That’s my overarching perspective, even if it is leading to delusional paranoia in this case.