BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

student comes out of the educational process with a marketable skill.
By "marketable" we mean that he has read the books, mastered the methods,
and satisfied the examiners, enabling him to be qualified or "certified"
to find a specialized slot for himself in today's world of international
technology and commerce. Indeed it is now common for curricula, particularly
in technical schools, to be modified from year to year,, not in response
to the individual needs and interests of students, but to the demands
of the job market. And because educational systems are simulative and
objective, and have transcended localism and the individual, the successful .
student can theoretically find his job anywhere.
17. It is common for scientists, engineers and technicians to move from
city to city, and from country to country, in accord with the demands of
assignments and careers, transcending language and cultural obstacles.
Having no roots is a merchandisable advantage. The technical staffs of
international corporations require rootlessness. The average American or
Canadian family moves from one city to another every four and a half years.
The Internal Revenue Service of the U.S. Government recognizes such movement
as a way of business life and allows a one hundred per cent tax exemption
for it.
18. Indeed it now becomes clear that this transient market is one of
the reasons why suburbs tend to be so similar everywhere. A family which
buys a .suburban house gives priority, not to personal choice, but to investment
related to resaleability. The developer of apartments, whether
he is a private sector investor as in the United States or a government department
as in Sweden and other European countries, instructs his architect
to design for the transient market; and in rental agreements and
apartment management strict covenants are placed against the self-expression
of an individual or a family on the living environment.(1)
Penalities of Failure
19. Education systems, bent on integrating their products into the mainstream
of technological employment, have turned their backs on sub-cultures.
Not recognizing the way people actually live in cities and their needs for
roots implies rejection.
1) Irvine, a new town south of Los Angeles, California, is being built at
a series of neighborhoods. Each neighborhood is designed and built
with its own architect and developer. The result is an apparent diversity
and vitality. But diversity and vitality are frozen, since
the sales agreement which every house purchaser signs has a covenant
preventing the owner from making any modifications to his unit, including
color.
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