talkpolitics | The Fleeting Illusion of Competency

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
--George Washington

200+ years later...

"Is our children learning?"
--George W. Bush

There is some dissension in the United States on the topic of education situational awareness.

One demographic believes the current era of humanity resides at the very forefront of cutting edge academic and educational achievement. That those alive today are light years ahead of their predecessors and ancestors in terms of intelligence and education.

Another demographic believes the current era of humanity represents a low water mark in human history. They cite a purported lack of critical thinking capacity and lowering of educational standards to promote a facade of academic and educational soundness in the absence of such.

For myself, I question where the line separating education from indoctrination is drawn at times. Blindly believing in everything and anything written within a holy book(or any book for that matter) can undoubtedly be a bad precedent. A tendency to award degrees and academic honors to those who may be adept at jumping through the proper accreditation hoops and reciting the correct dogmatic stance on a topic does not represent a true education, in my opinion.

Merely teaching someone facts and a set perspective or framework to go with it does nothing to develop a person's intellect or educate them. Rather it can provide a false sense of confidence and security.

An example of this may be the tendency to cite Hayek vs Keynes dichotomies as a framework from which to analyze economics. In many ways Hayek vs Keynes is a standard. And, yet, as an analytical framework to gauge economic sensibilities it can be a framework that is completely useless in lacking real world application. Might it be said, Hayek vs Keynes is intentionally taught in schools as a means of ensuring people lack the means to accurately analyze economics circumstances in general?

If the recent intelligent design vs evolution debates revolving around school boards and criteria for determining academic coursework has shown anything, it may be that there is a substantial amount of bias and conflict of self-interests present in determining academic curriculum. The religious want intelligent design taught in schools. Atheists and others want it excluded.

Although, the public spotlight may not focus upon the process for determining academic curriculum on a consistent basis, who is to say the subject isn't as proliferate with conflicts of self interest and bias as the evolution vs intelligent design issue? Who determines guidelines for educational standards and what safeguards are in place to ensure that the very best analytical frameworks and course material is included to ensure graduates have the best tools available to analyze economics, politics, science and other areas?

Sometimes, it seems university and college level students are given the most ridiculous and inferior academic frameworks, imaginable. Its almost as if they're intentionally given material intended to ensure they remain as ignorant and closed-minded as humanly possible on a wide array of subjects.

They're not taught to think for themselves or analyze topics in a way which is able to yield real world application. They're only taught that years and years ago, someone lived who was smarter and better than them. And, the best that they can do is to assimilate said persons opinions and viewpoints in an effort to match a purported apex of academic achievement.

And, that generally, its futile to think outside the box because an individual will never conceptualize or approach an issue in a way that hasn't already been done. All this, and more act to kill the curiosity and adventure which can be found in educating oneself and being freed from the ages old prejudices, ignorance and regurgitated failings of past eras.

I would credit the birther movement, the widespread support for Sarah Palin, the support of healthcare reform and socialism in general(to the demonization of capitalism and for profit enterprise) with failings of American eductional standards.

Political terminology and analytical frameworks of the current era are a biased joke. Every US political demographic from libertarians to liberals and conservatives -- and every other party shows ridiculously huge degrees of bias and support towards the self-interests of particular demographics.

The "academic" definition of free markets are something that have never existed throughout the entirety of human history. Even primitive tribes of cannibals had forms of economic regulation whereby a chief or other assorted authority figure would provide a degree of economic regulation by being an arbiter of trade disputes.

The entirety of our economic and political troubles and to a good degree our social and civil unrest can be credited to a breakdown of basic competency and educational standards. Never in human history has an era been so rife with lapses in good judgement, common sense and rational thought. Our ancestors would have perished miserably in the wilderness if they had our relative degrees of intelligence and education. Their crops would have failed, the indians would have deported them.

In the words and deeds of previous generations such as Washington, we can see the superiority of education and individual maturity in stark contrast with the politicians and other assorted authority figures of today. This precedent exists not only in politics but throughout American culture.

In short, Americans alive today are the least intelligent, worst educated and immature generation of Americans there has possibly ever been. Our managing to raise a deficit near World War 2 levels is certainly no accident and no fluke. And, our failure to recognize the threat such economic irresponsibilities would only confirm we're not educated, aware nor informed enough to have the first clue what to think about such a thing without someone else to tell us what to think and believe.

In short -- we're fucked. Figuratively, literally, whatever. The may 21st doomsday prediction may have been inaccurate, but I doubt the estimate is far off. With projected population increases and the impressive technical, logistical and co-operative hurdles humanity faces mated with potential negatives associated with sources of fresh water being depleted, climate change, peak oil the potential shifting of earth's magnetic field -- and any number of potential things which could go wrong. Not only are people of this era faced by some of the largest obstacles and challenges we have ever faced, we're also handicapped by quite possibly the largest educational and information lapses which have left us in a deficit of real maturity and intellectualism necessary to cope.

Considering my reputation here, I don't mind playing the part. A fragment of me expects the world to go up in flames and to burn massively and spectacularly. A incendiary effigy of man's conflict with himself and his own failure to problem solve shortcomings of the human condition.

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Ok, I'm done. Back to whatever it is we do around here. Peace!