Editorial & Commentary

THE WIZARD OF DODGE

Editorial

The economist James Galbraith once compared former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan to the Wizard of Oz. The same comparison can be applied to Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge. His words are often received as if they've come from Mt. Olympus. That was the case when Dodge recently catalogued what Ontario's policy priorities should be.

     But we should be sceptical about Dodge's policy prescriptions, because like the Wizard of Oz he's just a fallible man. That's especially true when he speaks of "efficiency" as paramount for all sectors in the Ontario economy.

     Just over 10 years ago the Harris Tories in Ontario made efficiency its sacred mantra. The results were disastrous, especially in education and health care. In the mid-to-late 1990s the Harris Tories were obsessed with efficiency and cutbacks. Their policies caused spectacular damage in many sectors. It also led to a crisis in health care.

     Efficiency sounds soothing. But it turns out you can be efficient at harming people too. In the 1970s corporations used to boast about the size of their workforce. People mattered. Twenty years later they spoke of "shedding" workers, restructuring, and downsizing. The Harris Tories seized on the same language, until it discovered people made economies work.

     Another policy priority for Dodge is early-childhood education. He says parents should ensure children are ready to learn before they enter school. That sounds okay. But for Dodge it's only about developing better workers. Nowhere does he speak of well-rounded citizens whose standard of success isn't enslaved to profit. In Dodge's equation of "developing workers," human sympathy, decorum, and compassion never come into play.

     For Dodge, education is all about "skill sets" and commercial benefits. Following his approach, four-year olds should be entering junior kindergarten with resumes, briefcases, and Blackberries.

     In our stressed-out, manic competitive and wired-up culture Dodge's view of early childhood education is particularly dangerous, because it neglects the importance of finding balance in our lives. This isn't to de-emphasize the importance of developing practical skills. But it shouldn't trump all other educational priorities. Otherwise we risk turning our children into burned-out, unhappy, and one-dimensional people.

     In Dodge's policy prescriptions for education he never honours the idea of vocation. That should worry us. As the essayist and novelist Wendell Berry says:" We don't hear the word vocation used much anymore, because we now think of all workers as units in an undifferentiated mass known as the 'work force' or 'labour pool.'"

     With his overwhelming emphasis on efficiency, Dodge makes economic competitiveness into a virtue. But he's wrongheaded. There are economic virtues, but why can't we talk about trust, good workmanship, care, and generosity?

     The McGuinty Liberals in Ontario should be wary of David Dodge's pronouncements. His only benchmark of success is material accumulation. That isn't the message we should be delivering to children --and it's not the pathway to a just and compassionate society either.