People who live in poor countries have to be entrepreneurial even just to survive.
Ha-Joon ChangRead
The higher education system in these countries (US, Korea etc) has become like a theatre in which some people decided to stand to get a better view, promoting the others behind them to stand. Once enough people stand, everyone has to stand, which means no one is getting a better view, while everyone has become more uncomfortable.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The education system is becoming a competition that ultimately makes everyone uncomfortable without improving their situation.
In this quote, Ha-Joon Chang critiques the competitive nature of higher education systems where individuals strive for an advantage, often at the expense of their peers. As more people attempt to elevate themselves, the overall experience deteriorates, resulting in a scenario where everyone is left feeling uncomfortable and no one achieves a clearer perspective or advantage. This metaphor highlights the futility of such competition and calls for a reevaluation of educational practices.
Themes
EducationCompetitionHigher EducationViewComfort
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on the flaws of the education system during a conference.
More from Ha-Joon Chang
All quotes →The widely accepted assertion that, only if you let markets be will everyone be paid correctly and thus fairly, according to his worth, is a myth. Only when we part with this myth and grasp the political nature of the market and the collective nature of individual productivity will we be able to build a more just society in which historical legacies and collective actions, and not just individual talents and efforts, are properly taken into account in deciding how to reward people.
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Once you realize that trickle-down economics does not work, you will see the excessive tax cuts for the rick as what they are -- a simple upward redistribution of income, rather than a way to make all of us richer, as we were told.
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Equality of opportunity is meaningless for those who do not have the capabilities to take advantage of it.
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There is no such thing as a free market.
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[Good managers] know that people have 'good' sides and 'bad' sides and that the secret of good management is in magnifying the former and toning down the latter.
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