Postcard from Florida (2)
The weather down here has been wonderful—with temps in the 70’s and 80’s most of the time, although the last two nights temps have fallen to the mid-thirties. But, if I was a resident of the state of Florida, my temperature would be rapidly heating up right now.
The state legislature is considering a bill that would require schools—starting in the 6th grad—to counsel students to choose college majors in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM courses) over courses in things like psychology, anthropology, and the liberal arts. Why? Because majors in STEM fields make more money and have more employment opportunities. Incoming college students would receive special information about degrees with the “highest full-time job placement and highest average annualized earnings.”
Florida’s businessman governor , Rick Scott, has made this bill a top priority, having proposed earlier bills that actually penalized many of the liberal arts fields.
I have no objection to telling students which jobs offer the best employment opportunities. But when the state counsels students to seek first the jobs that will make the most money, it is moving into the area of religious education.
Unfortunately the state is promoting a pagan religion—not Christianity. Jesus tells his followers to “seek first the kingdom of God.” He says “lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth.” He says “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
So, in the state of Florida, a young person who wants to pursue a career that enables him to effectively serve his fellow humans—become a teacher or social worker or pastor or counselor—will be advised to seek personal wealth instead of the public weal.
Counseling young people to set their hearts on earthly treasure is a violation of a student’s religious liberty, just as intrusive as counseling young people to get abortions.
This Florida bill is just one more indication of how the business paradigm dominates and perverts every aspect of American culture. Some might blame the STEM bill on an over-reaching state government seeking to control every aspect of its citizens’ lives, and that may be a secondary cause, but the primary culprit is the business mind that puts dollar signs on every human endeavor.
The promotion of greed and the commodification of all of life has become, I think, the great evil our time, so pervasive that almost no one notices it or sees it as evil.
The state legislature is considering a bill that would require schools—starting in the 6th grad—to counsel students to choose college majors in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM courses) over courses in things like psychology, anthropology, and the liberal arts. Why? Because majors in STEM fields make more money and have more employment opportunities. Incoming college students would receive special information about degrees with the “highest full-time job placement and highest average annualized earnings.”
Florida’s businessman governor , Rick Scott, has made this bill a top priority, having proposed earlier bills that actually penalized many of the liberal arts fields.
I have no objection to telling students which jobs offer the best employment opportunities. But when the state counsels students to seek first the jobs that will make the most money, it is moving into the area of religious education.
Unfortunately the state is promoting a pagan religion—not Christianity. Jesus tells his followers to “seek first the kingdom of God.” He says “lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth.” He says “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.”
So, in the state of Florida, a young person who wants to pursue a career that enables him to effectively serve his fellow humans—become a teacher or social worker or pastor or counselor—will be advised to seek personal wealth instead of the public weal.
Counseling young people to set their hearts on earthly treasure is a violation of a student’s religious liberty, just as intrusive as counseling young people to get abortions.
This Florida bill is just one more indication of how the business paradigm dominates and perverts every aspect of American culture. Some might blame the STEM bill on an over-reaching state government seeking to control every aspect of its citizens’ lives, and that may be a secondary cause, but the primary culprit is the business mind that puts dollar signs on every human endeavor.
The promotion of greed and the commodification of all of life has become, I think, the great evil our time, so pervasive that almost no one notices it or sees it as evil.
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