![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.zombietime.com\/zomblog\/wp-content\/images2009\/IMG_0590.JPG\")
\n…that when 7th- and 8th-graders at an expensive prestigious private school are asked to design their own tiles for a permanently displayed mosaic, they draw a big hammer-and-sickle and declare as their message to the world, “Capitalism will fail<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.zombietime.com\/zomblog\/wp-content\/images2009\/IMG_0592.JPG\")
\nThe communist message is part of a school mosiac for the Class of 2007 at Black Pine Circle School, which has a reputation as one of the best private K-8 schools in the city. (Most of the other tiles in the mosaic are what you typically might expect from 13- and 14-year-olds: declarations of friendship and personal messages that are generally inscrutable to adults.)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.zombietime.com\/zomblog\/wp-content\/images2009\/IMG_0582.JPG\")
\nThe mosaic can be seen by passersby in front of the school on Seventh Street in Berkeley (and the hammer-and-sickle is barely visible in this photo on the left side between the yellow and green stripes).<\/p>\n
The cost of tuition? A paltry $17,100<\/b><\/a> per student for a ten-month session. A mere trifle!<\/p>\n Thirteen-year-olds don’t come up with this stuff themselves. They have to learn it from somewhere<\/em>. But where? From their high-income intellectual parents? From the private school itself? Or just the general ambience of Berkeley? I’m not blaming the kids — they can’t choose their parents or where they grow up or even where they are sent to school. Black Pine Circle’s Mission Statement<\/a> says, <\/p>\n The ideal BPC student will be maximally free of all the “isms” which pervade most aspects of the world around them<\/strong>: from racism to sexism to the less obvious forms of discrimination. They will have a strong aversion to injustice, plus the awareness to identify the hidden signs of prejudice and the mental and spiritual strength to resist their influence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n They’re free of all “isms” except one, apparently: Communism.<\/p>\n UPDATE:<\/strong> This story was picked up by Fox News on June 25:<\/p>\n ‘Capitalism Will Fail,’ Marijuana Leaf Part of California School Mosaic<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.zombietime.com\/zomblog\/wp-content\/images2009\/IMG_0584.JPG\")
\nBlack Pine Circle School<\/a> is an exclusive private elementary and middle school where Berkeley’s children of privilege are given the best possible education, with highly trained teachers, very small class sizes, a sophisticated customized curriculum and a hands-on learning environment.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.zombietime.com\/zomblog\/wp-content\/images2009\/IMG_0586.JPG\")
\nEach graduating class gets to make a class mosaic, and each year includes a few details that might raise eyebrows. For example, the Class of 2001 had one of its tiles apparently translated into Arabic<\/strike>, while another tile had an anarchy symbol. [Update: Turns out the translated tile is not Arabic, but rather upside-down Farsi (Hat tip: Throbert McGee)<\/small><\/i>.]<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.zombietime.com\/zomblog\/wp-content\/images2009\/IMG_0588.JPG\")
\nElsewhere in the Class of 2007 mosaic, another student was allowed to depict a marijuana leaf as his or her personal statement (keep in mind that this long mosaic essentially acts as an advertisement for the school on its front wall).<\/p>\n
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