Why Ignorance is Becoming Popular

For the past several generations there has been a push toward reducing politics, education and public discourse to a common denominator. I'm not trying to bamboozle you with math, but there is a problem with using this approach when dealing with human beings. Imagine for a moment having to teach a group of students. This takes place every day in our great country. I asked my daughter to think about percentages the other day. My question to her was, "When you look at your day objectively, how much is spent on the three main things that you do there? Then to help her to think about it I told her that learning is what she's there for, waiting around to learn, switching classes, getting everyone on the same page and preparing to learn is usually part of the day, and hanging out with friends, talking with other students and thinking about boys sometimes takes up a large part of the day as well. Her analysis was 10% learning, 20% hanging out with friends and talking about boys, and 70% of her day is filled with getting ready to learn!

In our case, this was an excellent jumping off point for a deeper conversation about how the school system meets her needs, leads to her education and what characteristics make for the best teachers. She was able to identify a single teacher who commanded rather than demanded respect and therefore is able to teach much more effectively. Her estimate was that in the well-run science class, that one teacher turned those percentages around. Out of all of her classes she could only identify one where students were challenged, stimulated and inspired. The things she had learned in just the first month of school was respectable. We talked about the scientific method, how that same rigorous analytical style has a place in the humanities as well as the sciences and how many people have a hard time following through the process of learning because they don't know the way to assess the information and claims that are made by others.

We continued to talk for over an hour about this one science class as well as another class that was "pretty good", where the percentages were more evenly split. As my daughter talked, I began to understand that the difference between history and pre-history was a perfect place in time for her to be studying. Because in her way, she is between ages as well. Sometimes when we feel out of place, it is good to know that different ways of being in the world are out there and that one's culture has gone through tumultuous change before and that your changes are shared.

We may see the predominant culture as overly sexualized, consumerist and full of terrible messages for our youth, but taking the time to discuss my daughter's world tells me that parts of her experience may be edgy and different than how I grew to learn about the world, but in time she will have to confront many of the same difficulties and issues. How she sees herself fitting into the world is more important to me than what specific things she is exposed to. Lady Gaga, the endless advertising, especially in this election year and the litany of hate speech that masquerades as patriotism are things that I have to deal with, so why shouldn't I be man enough to tell her about how I get through the day with my morals and ethics intact? I'm pretty sure that if I didn't appreciate her intellect, it would atrophy.

I was trained as a teacher and couldn't sell out my profession by practicing in the terrible environment that exists out there today. I have seen teachers totally dominated by just two children who acted out. Twenty-six others had to sit idly by as she harangued and cajoled these two boys. I have begun to realize the terrible waste of humanity that is absorbed by the commercial break. Two hour movies become three hour ones, American Football, whose clock is only one hour and actual playing time just a matter of half that or less, can run over three hours. Perhaps we are being bred to only do a few minutes of work per day, and to think even less, but I for one, want to continue to use my intellectual gifts. They say that no one is ready to hear an answer until they formulate a question. I fear that far too many of us are told all day long what to think, how to make sense of the world, and what to get upset about that we forget that we are the ones who are supposed to be finding the answers and practicing the art of seeing the world as it is. Lord and Lady love us if we ever give that responsibility over to another!

From time immemorial, the ones among us who were educated have had status, butter to go with our bread so to speak and all the good things that society has had to offer. Before the Crusades, Constantinople had running water, sanitation, libraries and spas to pamper the educated classes. Our Christian forefathers from Western Europe tore down their infrastructure and burned the greatest libraries of the world. For our part, when we just recently attacked the cradle of civilization twice, we did the same, turning an advanced culture, that we did not understand back into a third world nation. If the culture we live in cannot learn, why should the individuals within the culture be required to? The fable that we are telling ourselves seems to be about creating viable scenarios that leave us victims, in a hostile world. In fables of old, at least, we were allowed to feel that we might one day triumph through adversity by using our cunning, or strength, intellect or faithfulness to moral values. now that is all being called into question. Cunning looks more like another Bernie Madoff scheme, strength has become spineless drone attacks and nukes. Intellect is suspect and it seems that moral values are a mask for hate and lies. Even things that are necessary and good for us are suspiciously tainted, like the apples with Alar or our water which comes from contaminated sources. They also say, "Ignorance is bliss.", so who wouldn't like a little of that from time to time?