Letter to My Children: Somatic Capitalism

Dearest Beloveds,

I am using the term somatic capitalism to expound upon the capitalism I am trying to unravel from my cells. Cells that have been very well educated in this model from a very young age.

What model are you talking about, Momma?

This model darlings, the model of education as elucidated by this embarrassing sentence on the official U.S. Department of Education website. The United States “ED’s [sic] mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.” I am going to start with a small diatribe against the grammar because I did Fists of Anger a few hours ago and LA is burning.

Let’s diagram this sentence shall we?

ED's [sic] mission (subject)

is (linking verb)

to promote (infinitive verb)

student achievement and preparation (compound direct objects of the infinitive verb, that which is being promoted)

for global competitiveness (prepositional phrase)

by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access (prepositional phrase)

First of all, “ED”? Seriously? It is the freaking mission of the organization, use the full name.

Second of all, you can’t “promote preparation.” It doesn’t make any sense. You can “promote student achievement…,” but you can’t promote preparation. Sorry.

No.

Let me give it a try. The mission of the U.S. Department of Education is to promote student achievement and to prepare for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.

Whew.

Gosh that feels better, it even has a nice parallel construction and it bounces with the alliteration. Now I can actually talk about the words of the mission.*

According to this mission, almost fifty million U.S. children are being prepared to achieve excellence in global competitiveness. What kind of achievement you ask? It is not clear, but we can make some assumptions. I don’t think the U.S. wants to compete with other countries on gazing out the window, yodeling at the stars, or baking bread with your family while doing a puzzle - because you can’t win any of those races.

You can win arms races, manufacturing races, energy races, aviation races, mining races, richest country races, construction races…. all things that can be tracked, tallied, compared, and monetized. These are races with identifiable goals/timelines/deliverables as opposed to time spent by oneself or with loved ones without goals other than somatic joy.

As I think about my education, I think about the times I worked hard and achieved success based upon deliverables set by others (family, society, culture) and adopted by me. Everything felt linear and progressive.

I have been trained very well to research, collate, organize, study, digest data, and produce deliverables that are clear and compelling. I have been trained to excel in situations with input and results. I have been trained very well in a system of education that Peter Mommsen in his article, Educating for Freedom, promotes “academic success as judged by standardized tests, and securing a competent workforce. The result of this view is a ranking of young people, with those primed for high grades and future earnings at the top, and everyone else as trailing also-rans.”

Somatic Capitalism.

This is opposite of parenting. This is the opposite, I would argue, of all interactions in life. This is the opposite, by extension, of what education should be achieving.

Parenting is love. Life is love too. Loving oneself enough spend your time on this precious earth in ways that make your heart sing and your soul soar. Which is why I feel so grateful to be your parent and which is why I am trying to be very vigilant when my somatic capitalism training kicks in.

There are macro noticings - like when I feel hesitant to ask those people who have jobs (aka have met the goal of being part of the secure workforce) to take time off to be with me when I need help feeding myself because I am receiving resources as part of the medical industrial complex.

There are micro noticings, for example, this morning, we were walking to the bus. Dragon you were counting potholes on the gravel road.

“35, 36, 37, 38…. 58, 59, 60… Mom, I made it to 100, I need to start over.”

“Okay, sounds good.” How in the world did he get to 100? I would say there are about 15 or so. And suddenly in my brain I saw a a bar graph with different circumference potholes, tallied according to depth and width. I saw tape measures and rulers and pencils and graph paper. I saw a page with a hypothesis and a conclusion after collating data over time. I send this capitalist energy to the light now with ease and grace. Thank you.

Meanwhile, Dragon was counting away, “23, 24, 25… Mom, there are 165 potholes!”

Thank you both for helping me remember what is important in this life.

Always now and forever.

Love.

*Clearly, me using my elite brain to tear apart grammar showcases how ingrained my education is as part of my sense of self, and that is the work. I would also argue that clear writing invites comprehension. Both And.

Let’s also ignore the other part of this. I feel the Department of Education should model and exemplify grammatical exactitude in all communications. But, in fairness, that word is not in the mission.