It's not perfect, but it's the best we've got...

...is a common argument when it comes to democracy. It has also been used with regards to nuclear power and our current capitalist, growth-centered regime. The problem, however, is that the comparison halters.

Difficult or just boring?

Since it's the International Women's Day, I thought I'd write something somewhat on topic. Following the discussion about subsidies for household services, it's been argued that the fact that women are the ones doing most of the cleaning and such is natural, since "they are better at it than men". A high-ranking conservative (or "liberal" as they call themselves now) politican got the question why he didn't clean up in the staircase of his building - his answer was that he didn't know how to get it properly clean, whereas a women from a cleaning company knew. He was very happy about her services, and claimed to respect her on the basis of her superior cleaning skills. This is, of course, bullshit.

Common problems - individual solutions?

Read an editorial today in Swedish morning paper DN, which so totally missed the point that my jaw dropped. The basic premise is probably correct - the low status of teachers is a problem. One of the reasons presented for this low status is that teachers are expected to perform all sorts of other, non-teaching, duties. Such as keeping track of students belongnings, mediating and coordinating bickering parents and put together special study programs. It didn't occur to whoever wrote the editorial that not only are these things lowering the status of the teaching profession, they also have a negative effect on the quality of teaching itself?