Leading stupidities: Entitled to Ignorance
by Miki SaxonNY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof comments that we finally elected an unabashed intellectual to the Presidency (it’s definitely worth reading), but what resonated more with me was the part that ties so closely with that CandidProf has been telling us.
“We can’t solve our educational challenges when, according to polls, Americans are approximately as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution, and when one-fifth of Americans believe that the sun orbits the Earth.
Almost half of young Americans said in a 2006 poll that it was not necessary to know the locations of countries where important news was made. That must be a relief to Sarah Palin, who, according to Fox News, didn’t realize that Africa was a continent rather than a country.”
- I’ve met people who think that the “Middle East” is a country;
- a nurse once explained to me that the war between Serbia and Bosnia wasn’t racial because both sides were Caucasian;
- a business type told me that Arkansas and Kansas were next to each other like North and South Dakota;
- CandidProf says that his students don’t know that round means spherical, so they think the Earth is a disk;
- something like 20% of Americans are functionally illiterate.
I’m actually grateful for Palin’s error because it highlights the level of ignorance that has become acceptable and the condition of education in this country.
I’m not saying that it’s necessarily great in other countries, but I don’t live in them either and they don’t bragg about being the world’s leader.
Perhaps it’s time to turn our focus from being the ‘leader’ in fixing the world’s problems to being the ‘leader’ in fixing our own.
The stupidity exemplified in the No Child Left Behind law that has led to a lowering of already low standards in the name of receiving funding is criminal.
We need educational reform that isn’t test-based, but focuses on real learning including critical thinking and is adequately funded.
Funding that shouldn’t be the problem once we stop spending $70 billion a month on the war—not that I think much of it will go towards education.
The stupidity of parents in brainwashing their kids into believing they are special and entitled to good grades and good jobs merely because they exist is tragic.
This entitlement stupidity is likely to carry on to future generations, unless it gets good and stomped down when it comes in contact with reality.
What ignorance can you add to the list above?
What ideas do you have for combating the problems?
Your comments—priceless
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Image credit: sxc.hu
