Response to classroom discussion

Today in class we discussed Richard Kahn's "Towards Ecopedagogy." In the article, he definitely presented
some interesting statistics. For example, 3 billion people live on less than $2 per day, and 1.2 billion live on
less than $1. There is a lot in the article about how capitalism is designed so that the rich get richer and the
poor get poorer. Kahn's main problem was with the educational system. He says that the educational system
isn't broken, it was just designed to control people. People will only go so far based on the schools they go
to, and the elite of society are "better" because they go to more expensive schools. I don't know if I really
agree with all of this though. A degree is only as good as you make it in my opinion. For example, lets look
at two theoretical people, Bob and Joe. Bob was born into a very wealthy family. He got to go to private
school for grade school and Duke for college because his parents were able to afford it and make some
donations along the way. Bob finished towards the bottom of his class in business school, and now has a
decent salary, along with the money he still receives from his parents. Joe however was born into a poor
family. He worked his butt off through the public school system, and eventually went to NC State on
scholarship. He graduated top of his class, and went on to start his own business. Joe spent all of his time
working to make his company succeed, often upwards of 70 hours per week for the first few years.
Eventually, his business took off and is now making several million dollars per year. According to the system
Kahn describes this can't happen, but it does. Sure, the wealthier you are the more advantages you have, but
that's not the system that's just nature. I think that a person's success is a reflection of primarily how hard
they work, not the system.