Day 516: What Lies Beyond the Horizon

http://www.salon.com/2014/03/12/the_oil_industry_is_helping_design_albertas_elementary_school_curriculum/

Elementary school students in Alberta, Canada are about to see a “massive overhaul” to their school curriculum, overseen by Big Oil.
Major oil companies, including Syncrude Canada, Cenovus Energy and Suncor Energy, have partnered with the government “in helping draft Alberta’s future curriculum for our students,” a document posted to the Alberta Education website reveals. Specifically, Syncrude and Suncor are pitching in as members of a working group led by the Edmonton public school board, aimed at redesigning the kindergarten through third grade curriculum.
According to the Edmonton Journal, critics are “worried about the direction” the children’s education is taking. “Kindergarten to grade three is a very formative time in a child’s education where their minds are still developing,” said Deron Bilous of the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP). “It is outrageous and appalling to have oil and gas companies involved in any way in developing curriculum for Alberta’s youngest students.”

“We want the economy involved in the education system,” responded Education Minister Jeff Johnson. “If we’re going to build a relevant education system, we need the voice of the employer, the business community, economic development — we need those people at the table.”
The oil industry, a major part of Alberta’s economy thanks, in part, to its infamous oil sands, is certainly “relevant” to the province. How that will apply to public school education, however, remains unclear. Commented Bilous, “It really makes me wonder what value will [the oil companies] gain from it and how this is going to impact our students.” - Salon

As if our education systems are not bad enough, now the big corps are getting their claws into our kids' brains from the ripe age of VERY YOUNG. When have the big corporations ever done something because that is what is good for society as a whole? Exactly. It's all about how they can increase their profits.

Remember that corporations are run by people like you and me. The only difference is that the people running corporations have lost what little humanity people have these days. Listen to the way that the super rich talk about other people: we are not human beings to them, but pieces on a chess board to be manipulated and maneuvered in ways that will benefit them. With this in mind, what do you think will happen if they start designing the curriculum's in our children's schools?

As if the big corps don't have enough influence on our lives with their complete market control of the food and health industries. Look at what happened when private prisons were introduced: a need was created, a niche market. Those prisons do not exist to benefit society, they exist to make rich people richer.

Do you know exactly what your child is taught in school? You most likely are not aware of every single thing, so just imagine what new weird and wonderful things they will start learning that you will only find out about after it's too late. We are already a society of conformity, unable or unwilling to question or change the way we live even when it is glaringly obvious that it is so very wrong for us. What will our kids be like after graduating from a school that was designed by a big oil corp? Will they be ready to lay their lives down for profit?

The government claims that kids need to learn about the economy, which is certainly true, but what is absolutely not true is what the big oil boys will teach them. Education should be unbiased and even adventurous - giving children the tools to investigate things on their own to find out what is really going on. The Education Minister saying that big oil corps designing the curriculum will be good for the complete education of our children is the same as him saying "I've been bought and paid for."