The Way Things Are Does

Some Parents Expend Great Efforts To Get Their Kids Into The Right Nursery School Or The Right Preschool, With The Thought That That Will Set Them On The Path To Success, To Competitive Success Especially.

They Say The State Should Not Impose On Its Citizens A Preferred Way Of Life, But Should Leave Them As Free As Possible To Choose Their Own Values And Ends, Consistent With A Similar Liberty For Others.

I Think Very Often When We Think We Are Aiming At The Best For Our Children, What We Are Really Doing Is Trying To Position Them For Competitive Success In An Intensely Driven Kind Of Society. I'm Not Sure That Always Leads To The Good Life Or To Happiness.

I Think Part Of Being A Parent, To Love One's Child, Is To Accept Them As They Come - Not To See Them As Instruments Of Our Ambition Or As Creatures To Be Molded, As If They Were Themselves Commodities.

My Argument Is Not That We Must Never Intervene In Nature. My Argument Is That There Is A Moral Difference Between Intervention For The Sake Of Health, To Cure Or Prevent Disease, And Intervention For The Sake Of Achieving A Competitive Edge For Our Kids In A Consumer Society.