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P_Funk · 07-20-06, 11:18 PM

I think that the problem with my generation (and others) is that the educational system in the western world is not very interested in teaching people to be critical thinkers. The idea behind education isn't to get you to remember a bunch of obscure dates and events but to make people's minds able to think and deduce, reason, and critically analyse information. A story a friend told me sums up the problem with a person who cannot think critically.

It was the end of grade 12 and the beginning of their History 12 exam. My friend was sitting down and writing his name down on the sheet. A girl next to him, not an idiot or a ditz but one of those overachievers with straight A's, leaned oiver and asked him one question. "Who won WW2?"

So she had gotten an A on all the tests, read all the required literature several times, andwas getting a solid A. However she could not for thelife of her figure out who had won WW2. Why? Because she lacked deductive reasoning. With all the knowledge she had she could figure out who won (I mean Hitler did die as the Russians were taking Berlin). But she didn't connect the dots. That is education's purpose.

If you look at every good democracy, I mean a truly socialistic one wiich is set on creating democracy it puts special emphasis on education because if citizens can't understand what politicians are saying and can't figure out when they're being lied to then democracy will forever be dysfunctional. Sweden is viewed by many as an example of a great democratic nation. Sweden has 3 education ministers, not 1 but 3. And their curriculum is about more than just learning how to count and read.

The West has a real problem with education and that's why people are such fools. That's why ignorance is so prevalent. It has become worse than before with my generation. My goddamned History teacher was illiterate in history. She called the Roman Empire of the Ancient world the Holy Roman Empire (the latter existed in the middle ages and was in no way related to the former in any way other than name).

Lament

07-20-06, 11:18 PM	#35
P_Funk Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Canada, eh? Posts: 2,537 Downloads: 129 Uploads: 0	I think that the problem with my generation (and others) is that the educational system in the western world is not very interested in teaching people to be critical thinkers. The idea behind education isn't to get you to remember a bunch of obscure dates and events but to make people's minds able to think and deduce, reason, and critically analyse information. A story a friend told me sums up the problem with a person who cannot think critically. It was the end of grade 12 and the beginning of their History 12 exam. My friend was sitting down and writing his name down on the sheet. A girl next to him, not an idiot or a ditz but one of those overachievers with straight A's, leaned oiver and asked him one question. "Who won WW2?" So she had gotten an A on all the tests, read all the required literature several times, andwas getting a solid A. However she could not for thelife of her figure out who had won WW2. Why? Because she lacked deductive reasoning. With all the knowledge she had she could figure out who won (I mean Hitler did die as the Russians were taking Berlin). But she didn't connect the dots. That is education's purpose. If you look at every good democracy, I mean a truly socialistic one wiich is set on creating democracy it puts special emphasis on education because if citizens can't understand what politicians are saying and can't figure out when they're being lied to then democracy will forever be dysfunctional. Sweden is viewed by many as an example of a great democratic nation. Sweden has 3 education ministers, not 1 but 3. And their curriculum is about more than just learning how to count and read. The West has a real problem with education and that's why people are such fools. That's why ignorance is so prevalent. It has become worse than before with my generation. My goddamned History teacher was illiterate in history. She called the Roman Empire of the Ancient world the Holy Roman Empire (the latter existed in the middle ages and was in no way related to the former in any way other than name). Lament __________________