02-16-2009, 05:30 AM
quote:We really do get some strange ideas on this forum. Don't know what esnap's concept of progressive is, but I would say that pretty close to everyone who seriously studies human development sees that the evidence supports both nature and nuture as foundations of the human situation. That makes talking-points/ideological statements like sound pretty ignorant. The "blank slate" (tabla rasa) concept is centuries old and has little to do with today's scientific understanding. We humans are distinctive for our learning and abstract pattern recognition abilities but we do also come already equipped with nearly a billion years of evolution behind us.
So, are we making the assertion that people are different and not blank slates?
The common progressive belief is that only social influence determines out come.
There are certainly common aspects to education and medicine. Perhaps one reason why some people interested in human progress are focused on the nurture aspect is that it is usually much more difficult to change the nature aspect. An average student can do poorly in a poor academic environment and well in a good academic environment. So for bang-for-the-buck an emphasis on providing a good educational environment (nurture) is a great investment. As far as "socialized education" goes, in its current form it's pretty recent and simply represents opportunity for all children rather the progeny of the elite, which is the historical model. Similarly "socialized medicine" simply represents health care for all people rather than just those who can afford it. And, looking at facts like the number of bankruptcies related to relatively small (<$10k) amounts of medical debt, many can not afford medical care these days. Like education, how we structure universal health to be effective, simple and transparent has much more to do with its potential success than public versus private concepts. I think Hawaii with its unique culture has as good a chance as any state to be a leader in health care.