Increase in population --> High Wages --> Increase in National Wealth.
Is it because children are going in to the work force at a young age, so that's why population correlates with national wealth? If so, it seems the children/ people during the mercantile system weren't especially smart... The children are forced to start work at a young age to help out in raising the family, so they are forced to do the same repetitive tasks every day. Performing the same tasks over and over again every day doesn't allow their brains/ ideas/ thoughts to grow. Also, in order to survive, they had to work many hours of the days which doesn't allow the children to have time to educate themselves.
It seems the only form of education that parents of the poor have possibly considered is apprenticeship and that isn't basic education, but a specific education of a trade. However, mentioned in Smith's writings, very few actually enter apprenticeships because it doesn't show an immediate return. The mercantile system is all about survival and being an apprentice of a trade doesn't allow one to survive as well as a normal workman. However, wouldn't the apprentice, in the long run with hard work and determination, be able to make more money in than a normal workman? It seems the people of this age mainly looked at the present and rarely considered the future.
In our modern society now, one change from the people in the mercantile system is we do consider our futures. We are required to go to school and gain an education. We go to school just for our futures. Our futures in what though? In the end, it seems... we're all just preparing ourselves with education because we hope to make a better living. We hope to be able to make big money and live leisurely-- that is the future we try to aim for. Has the past, our history made us like this? To only consider money?
Are we educated to only think about money? Is that society's main lesson....?
No comments:
Post a Comment