[thechat] Jan 18 peace march

[aardvark]

> From: Martin Burns <martin at easyweb.co.uk>
> > >
> > > Or alternatively, let market forces sort it out as it does for
> > > other high-paying professions.
> >
> > but that would mean privatizing it,
>
> Nope. Not necessarily. In the UK, the medical profession is well paid
> and (still largely) non-privatised. Competition is fierce to get into
> the limited places available in medical schools.

that's also a whole different model -- not just in the public eye,
but in the type of job...

> If you have a limited supply of entry places to a high demand
> profession, and the currency of entry is not money, then it'll come
> down to talent.

it's not a high demand profession, it's almost a fallback for many...
and there isn't a limited number of places because of such programs,
there's a limited number in some districts because of budget cuts...

> > instead, people freak out when coca cola buys exclusive rights to
> > sell to a school cafeteria audience, even though it puts much needed
> > money in the public school coffers...
>
> Not sure that 'Coca-Cola = endorsed quality" is a good health
> education message.

well, that was the sort of response people over here had... thing is,
the schools already sold juices and other food products that are
distributed by coca cola...

did you know that Minute Maid is a coca cola company? the coca cola
contract also put Minute Maid fresh-squeezed orange juices in front
of the kids (an option they didn't previously have)... no, they
weren't pushing carbonated beverages at the cafeteria any more than
before, they just restricted the options of all products to the coca
cola brand... the kids actually had better choices *and* the schools
made money off it...

sadly public perception is governed by knee-jerk responses like above
instead of education and consideration of all options... personally,
i'd love to see Pepsi step in and watch bidding wars ensue over
funding public schools while offering better and better returns for
the opportunity to expose their brands...

worst-case scenarios, of course, are a concern... think of the
simpsons episode where the springfield church was privatized --
that's obviously the fear that everyone had going into it...

read some concerns from the other side of the fence:
http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/14_02/coke142.shtml

sadly, the contracts were worded without much consideration of other
products (juices, water, etc.), and too many iditiotic
representatives made comments like "we believe carbonated beverages
can be part of a healthy diet."

put that together with public opinion, and the whole thing falls
apart....

--
my latest book project:
  Web Graphics for Non-Designers
  http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904151159/evoltorg02-20
  ISBN: 1904151159