Summary of Chapter 5 in Saber-Tooth Curriculum

1. Chapter V: Education and
Paleolithic Security

2. Main Characters
• The Clever Fisherman- He realized he could catch more fish with
more area and proposed a bargain with a slow fisherman. He was
the first one to think of private ownership of parts of the creek.
• The Slow Fisherman- He was easily persuaded by the clever
fisherman because he was confused by the math and thought he
was getting a good deal.
• The Great Fish Chiefs- These three men did all of the fish catching
for the tribe and hired help when they had such a surplus that
they could not operate their nets and smoke all the fish.

3. Main Characters
• The Main Chiefs- Convinced the fish chiefs to turn their profit over
to them so that they could distribute the excess to the
unemployed.
• The Demented Tribesman- He saw the problems with the economic
system and suggested everyone go back to catching their own fish
and antelope and setting their own bear traps.
• The Inquiring Teacher- He thought that the teachers should teach
the tribe how to come up with a better system, but his ideas were
shot down by the other teachers.

4. Main Ideas
The clever fisherman offered the slow fisherman 5 fish a day if he
could take over the slow fisherman’s hole in the creek. He was successful
and started taking over more people’s creek holes. Other clever fishermen
started doing the same until only three great fish chiefs caught all of the
fish for the tribe. There was too much work for the chiefs to do so they
hired unemployed tribesman to tend to the nets and smoke fish for them
for the price of 2 fish a day. They soon hired women and children too.
Eventually, there was a huge surplus of fish that the chiefs could not get
rid of. The main chiefs offered exclusive rights to any fisherman who
“would give the whole tribe a pile of fish as high as a man (pg. 104).” The
gave one half-fish to the unemployed man and a quarter-fish to
unemployed women and children.

5. Main Ideas
The fish chiefs had entire control over the industry and soon the antelope
and bear chiefs followed in the same path. More and more people became
unemployed and they depended on the main chiefs (aka the government) to
supply them with fish, meat, and skins. The main chiefs piles soon grew so large
they could not find any use for them and the piles began to rot. Everyone except
the fish, antelope, and bear chiefs were unemployed and hungry. The chiefs
decided to tax the fish, antelope, and bear chiefs so that they could once again
provide for the needy. A demented tribesman thought this economic system was
unfair and suggested everyone go back to catching their own fish and antelope
and trapping their own bears. He was “ducked” in the creek for his radical
thoughts until he promised to agree with the current system. A teacher who
witnessed the “ducking” suggested he and the other teachers educate the people
on how to devise a better system where no one would starve. His peers warned
him talking like that would get him fired, so he kept his ideas to himself. He was
eventually fired because the economy was so bad that the schools had to fire half
their staff.

6. Historical Context
• The main chiefs taking the surplus of food and rationing it out to
the poor reminded me of the breadlines and soup kitchens present
after the Great Depression. Although the soup kitchens provided
this food for free, often it was not enough to feed a family and
many people went hungry. In a similar manner, the main chiefs
would only give a half-fish to an unemployed man and a quarter-
fish for women and children. This means a family of 5 who used to
eat 5 fish a day now only got one and one half-fish.
• I am also reminded of the US welfare system. Much like the soup
kitchens of the Great Depression (and the fish piles of the tribe)
they provide for the poor but often it is not enough.

7. Connection to Modern Education
Although there is not much mention of education in this
chapter, I do see a resemblance of the inquisitive teacher, as well as
the demented tribesman, to the ideas that led to unions. When
individuals see that something (usually a form of government) is
unfair they voice their opinions and form unions with those who are
like minded to them. Although teacher unions are meant to protect
teachers in the classroom, some (like Raymond Wayne) argue that
they do the educational system more harm than good.