RE: Reading to Your Kids Creates Inequality
Yeah, when I read this I wondered if a professor would really say such a thing so I decided to check out the story. It seems the quote is accurate - he did say this in a radio interview.
However, if you look a little closer you'll realise that he was not suggesting that people should not read to their kids and that his comment was off the mark but not a reflection of his intent.
Here is the full quote 'I don’t think parents reading their children bedtime stories should constantly have in their minds the way that they are unfairly disadvantaging other people’s children, but I think they should have that thought occasionally'.
The article this quote is taken from also states that Professor Swift 'flirted' with the idea of abolishing the family.
After reading some other material about Swift you'll see that he was raising a concept that Plato suggested once upon a time and that he doesn't agree with that notion.
In fact, the main point that Swift is making is that children who do not come from nurturing families are disadvantaged and that the things that come from a nurturing family are positive, and should, therefore be encouraged.
His evaluation of private schooling is that it getting rid of it wouldn't harm the family.
Quote '‘We could prevent elite private schooling without any real hit to healthy family relationships, whereas if we say that you can’t read bedtime stories to your kids because it’s not fair that some kids get them and others don’t, then that would be too big a hit at the core of family life.’
I could not find anything to suggest Swift stated or even implied that - Parents who send their kids to private schools are contributing to the toxic inequality that is plaguing our culture - as is stated in bold headings in this post.
I'm not sure that I entirely agree with Swifts evaluation of private schools, but in the interest of balance I thought it fair to throw another light on the issue, tongue and cheek though it may be.
Yea. I admit that I took the concept much further than Swift intended. He may not have taken such a hard stance as I jokingly did, but even flirting with such ideas is so absurd.