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Tuesday, September 16, 2008 British Educational Bureaucracy By Paul Hsieh @ 1:37 AM This short satirical video mocks the arrogance and paternalism of the bureaucrats who run the British educational system, but most of the arguments apply equally well to socialized health care. Or socialized anything! The American equivalent in health care would be ABC News Medical Editor Dr. Tim Johnson's comments on individuals buying health insurance directly from an insurance company instead of through one’s employer. He stated (halfway through the following video): The idea that individuals are going to have enough knowledge and enough savvy and enough insight and, frankly, enough guts to make choices all by themselves is pretty much a pipe dream. (Via Brian Schwartz.) Labels: Education, Funny   E-mail Paul Hsieh    PermaLink ()    Comments [12] (New Page)

Comments on "British Educational Bureaucracy"
	Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 10:14:38 mst Comment ID: #1 Name: Nicholas Provenzo E-mail: nprovenzo(at)capitalismcenter.org URL: http://www.capitalismcenter.org This is very clever satire . . . thanks for sharing, Paul.
	Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 10:21:43 mst Comment ID: #2 Name: Michael Labeit E-mail: logician169(at)yahoo.com URL: http://themethodoflogic.blogspot.com I like the quib that parents who don't prefer academic education should send their children to progessive schools.
	Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 10:30:24 mst Comment ID: #3 Name: Michael Labeit E-mail: logician169(at)yahoo.com URL: http://themethodoflogic.blogspot.com The hysterical reaction on the part of the statist in the video is the exact same type of emotionalism I provoke when I tell my professors that their beloved government alphabet commissions and departments indeed do not have to exist. They have socialized themselves to believe that the market is inherently chaotic.
	Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 12:21:51 mst Comment ID: #4 Name: Rory Hodgson E-mail: cowboybebop(at)ntlworld.com Michael, I can't tell if she was making a joke. I think what she meant was, as was the case when 'Yes, Prime Minister' was on TV, that you could go to a Grammar School (a state school for smarties), a Comprehensive (a state school for the rest) or some kind of polytechnic (a state school for engineering and/or the arts). The polytechnics were considered 'progressive'. A wonderful video overall, I must say. Especially the comments about the Department of 'x' being the Tombstone of 'x'. I'm surprised programmes like this were actually ever aired on British television, considering how liberal, in the classical sense, they are.
	Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 15:16:34 mst Comment ID: #5 Name: madmax E-mail: max34(at)wlcm.net "I'm surprised programmes like this were actually ever aired on British television, considering how liberal, in the classical sense, they are." I think you meant "in the modern sense." Classical liberalism would champion freedom and individualism. Modern liberalism champions collectivism and statism. That these anti-statist, pro-self-responsibility sentiments were expressed on British TV is shocking. Such sentiments would be impossible to express in a TV show in America today. It would make Democrats (and many Republicans) extremely uncomfortable. In America, to suggest that the Government eliminate the Department of Education would be considered hate speech in most quarters.
	Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 16:07:33 mst Comment ID: #6 Name: Andrew Baker E-mail: smoke_owner(at)mac.com Love the reaction of that bureaucrat. The idea of loosening his grip on a facet life creates a tizzy as if society will fall apart should people make their own decisions. Of course the fact for years before people made their own decisions about such matter but today somehow people are different and too stupid to do that. Wouldn't matter if those people are products of their "enlightened" decisions people will always be too stupid to them. I wonder if a statist ever thinks that their education is defective if they keep producing products that can't make their own decisions. I imagine that there is an argument that is the whole point of public education.
	Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 16:56:30 mst Comment ID: #7 Name: Jeff Montgomery URL: http://funwithgravity.blogspot.com/ I tremble with anxiety in the grocery store cereal aisle, wondering what I should buy. I wish there were a Federal Department of Extruded Grain Products to tell me what shape and flavor is best; there are just too many for me to make an educated decision all by myself. I haven't eaten breakfast in 5 years. ;D
	Tuesday, September 16, 2008 at 18:29:08 mst Comment ID: #8 Name: Renee Katz E-mail: reneekatz(at)gmail.com URL: http://adventuresinexistence.blogspot.com I'd be surprised to see this on American TV, let alone British TV. Aren't they more statist than we are?
	Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 0:02:13 mst Comment ID: #9 Name: Rory Hodgson E-mail: cowboybebop(at)ntlworld.com Renee, well, yes, the BBC is funded by a tax, which, if you don't pay, can have some nasty consequences (and don't think you can hide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTRARvgNX7c ). I've already got a bunch of stuff from the TV Licencing office warning me about what will happen if I watch TV (even if it isn't the BBC) without a licence. Funnily enough, it's the BBC that usually shows this satirical stuff, part of its fairness in broadcasting and the like. Madmax, I meant the ideas in the show are Classical Liberal, not the country. The show is about how civil servants basically control the country and just exist to confuse MPs and gain more power for themselves. It all seems like a funny joke and it couldn't possibly be true in reality... except this Civil Servant came into our school once to give a lecture on why becoming a Civil Servant was a good thing - and he expressed the exact same character that Humphrey does in 'Yes, Minister'.
	Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 1:38:37 mst Comment ID: #10 Name: Andrew Baker E-mail: smoke_owner(at)mac.com Wow, that ad was so openly thuggish. I thought socialist usually try to put a nice happy face on gangster aspects of government.
	Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 8:24:02 mst Comment ID: #11 Name: Rory Hodgson E-mail: cowboybebop(at)ntlworld.com That's just a nice example. I couldn't find any of the more extreme examples, but they're usually heavier on the, 'We will come around, arrest you and instantly issue you with a fine with no recourse for appeal'. You are guilty until you satisfy them that you are innocent. They also tend to show the van patrolling the streets with detector equipment and the like spying on people.
	Wednesday, September 17, 2008 at 8:49:06 mst Comment ID: #12 Name: Ryan "The idea that individuals are going to have enough knowledge and enough savvy and enough insight and, frankly, enough guts to make choices all by themselves is pretty much a pipe dream." If only we had a faculty capable of integrating large amount of data so we could manage it...
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