The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!

Bob Hebert, in the April 22 New York Times, wrote one of those articles that highlights what Americans don't know. Kind of like when Jay Leno does those "Jay-Walking" bits where he asks basic questions about something like American history and then edits the footage to make us laugh.

Well, Hebert brings up the latest stats on stuff that America knows (like how many high schoolers don't know that the Civil War took place between 1850 & 1900, or that 20% didn't know the U.S. fought in WWII...stuff like that) or doesn't know.

He rounds up the usual suspects to make quotes. Bill Gates is "terrified" of the workforce of tomorrow. He's traveled. He's seen what's going on in schools in Europe. He's a hyperbillionaire.

He rounds up educational experts, too. Our 4th graders match up well with math & science compared to the rest of the world. So do our 8th graders. But, our 12th graders seem to drop off the radar...supposedly near the bottom of the barrel, comparing us to "third-world" nations.

I'm sure there's something to all of this.

And, there's always room to improve our educational standards. And there's always room to debate the best & most effective ways to do this. There are plenty of ways to skin that particular cat. And, there are plenty of bureaucrats waiting in line to design and implement many of those skinned cats. My suspicion is most of this will result in failed government initiatives and lots of kids trained to jump through standardized testing hoops with raised standards so we'll climb above those third-world nations to middling with the Europeans.

Then we'll complain that we've got to out-do the Japanese or whoever else is at the top of the heap.

But you know what I see that's more disturbing than any of that?

That we've become a group of people that doesn't like to think. We like to be told what to think.

We watch the news and believe what we're told.
We read books and recommend them without considering major themes and how they affect us. Same for television and music.
We watch movies and miss the message because we were moved by the story.
We listen to sermons and just assume the message is "true."
We allow our educational system to do things to (under the guise of being "for") our children and puff our chests out when we dominate the standardized testing sessions.
We believe that education is a panacea when it's not even a placebo.
We come to conclusions that are set in stone, never to revisit them on the off-chance we might've missed something.
We prefer entertainment over engagement.

I could go on.

But it seems to me if we taught people how to think, with all the inherent risks and realities that brings...

...we wouldn't have to worry one iota about being terrified by tomorrow's workforce, or "obsolete" high schools, or "seismic" changes in "globalization."

Maybe I just have a soft spot for the philosophers among us.

I don't know.

But I don't think the sky is falling, Bob. We just need somebody to lead who says, "Here's the vision, Americans: No use of foreign oil by 2020. Failure is not an option." Name your vision. I just picked an easy one.

And, guess what, Bob?

Americans would get it done. And all those side issues would be erased. It's how we operate.

So, today, my small agenda is to provide for the rise of the philosopher-leaders...

...and allow your thinking brains to get that done. I'll expect society to be changed by just after lunchtime tomorrow, okay?