For anyone who’s paid even a little attention to the political goings-on (and fiascos of varied kinds) in California’s political landscape these last years – the mere fact that the state’s governor is still one Gavin Newsom is a story worth telling, all in and of itself.
But, since Newsom is still there, he seems to be determined to make “the best” of his controversial, to say the least, time in office. And this thing is quite something – apparently inspired by a trip to China, and, apparently, focused on bringing some version of the feared and loathed (among freedom-lovers) “social credit system” to his, otherwise, Golden State.
But maybe “gold” isn’t a figurative, but rather literal reference – to money? And whoever has more power and control over the population, surely is bound to make more money.
Newsom calls his proposal “Cradle to Career” (“Cradle to Grave” would have been a little on the nose, his PR people no doubt alerted him).
Critics say that it would essentially be one of the spawn of China’s current social credit system, one that would rest on its barely democracy-worthy laurels – based on “one billion data points.”
More importantly, these data points wouldn’t materialize out of thin air – they would come from people living in California, their real lives, and private information.
NOT what Newsom, or anyone like him, in China, the US, or anywhere in between would promote their “ideas” by making their stark nature that obvious. No – this is what the California governor had to say about his “Cradle to… Career” scheme:
“By leveraging billions of data points, California’s Cradle-to-Career data system will be a game-changer for improving the quality of life for millions of Californians and highlighting ways to improve opportunity in the classroom and access to the workforce.”
The idea is clearly that nobody in their right mind would say “no” to that. But a lot of people in their right mind are questioning if what it says, is really what it means.
Young people (and that’s why we’re talking “careers” and not “graves” here) are being targeted with this policy.
“It will illuminate gaps and identify opportunities throughout students’ education experiences so they can ultimately reach their goals for life and careers (….) race, gender, ability, and geography to illuminate and address areas of strength and needed growth, and any inequities.”
So many buzzwords – so little positive and credible substance.
