Europe’s Philosophy of Failure
A Foreign Policy article analyzes the way economic subjects are taught in French and German schools, arguing that it is creating citizens who believe that free enterprise and entrepreneurship are immoral.
“Both the French and German cases show the limits of trying to run against the grain of deeply held economic ideology. Yet, training the next generation of citizens to be prejudiced against being enterprising and productive is equally foolhardy. Fortunately, such widespread attitudes and the political outcomes they foster aren’t only determined by tradition and history. They are, to a great extent, the product of education. If countries like France and Germany hope to get their nations on a new economic track, they might start paying more attention to what their kids are learning in the classroom.”
