How is our educational system failing our nation?
Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 05:23AM 
On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. H.L. Mencken, 1920
Whether you are distraught or gleeful over the results of last week's election, I believe the results themselves can be attributed directly to the education (not intelligence) of voters. I have some concerns about the degree to which our school products (graduates) have:
1. Critical thinking and information literacy skills. Given a mass media that seems to skew heavily either left of right, personal fact checking abilities with the understanding of why these abilities are critical is imperative. Confirmation bias may be impossible to overcome, but schools need to give it a shot. (And yes, I am talking directly to you, librarians.)
2. Job skills needed for a changing economy. A number of post-election analyses have suggested that high unemployment and underemployment rates in rural areas were a primary motivation for votes for a regime change. The Obama administration did not do enough to establish programs for helping economically depressed areas of the country, including finding ways to re-employ those folks who lost their jobs to automation or out-sourcing. Not long ago I remember hearing that manufacturing jobs were actually going unfilled in Minnesota, but they were manufacturing jobs in precision manufacturing that require education beyond high school. People took a risk voting for an unsavory person getting them a good job.
3. Sound knowledge of how government works. Does one vote count? How much and what kind of power does the president really have? Can the Supreme Court be non-partisan? Hell, how do I register to vote and where? I keep wondering if people understood goverment a little better, they would be more likely to vote for the people who would actually represent them.
In a very powerful post, David Warlick writes "We endeavor to prepare our children for their future workplace, and rightly so. But we have increasingly worked toward this goal at the expense of preparing them to become knowledgeable and responsible citizens of a democratic society. ... according to an Annenberg Public Policy Center study, only 36% of us could name all three branches of government. 35% could not name a single one. Only 27% knew that two-thirds of the House of Representatives and Senate could overturn a Presidential veto. 21% believe that a 5-4 Supreme Court Decision is sent back to Congress. Yet the constitution we apparently know so little about grants us the power to select those who will fill our offices of leadership."
I've been asking myself whether I should be writing in the Blue Skunk about politics at all. I am confused and have no source of information or inspiration that is remarkable. Yet, I feel the need to work this all out in my own mind - and you get to ride along. These words from Antonio Gramsci (via Tim Stahmer and Audrey Watters) make me less concerned...
I hate the indifferent. I believe that life means taking sides. One who is really alive, can be nothing if not citizen and partisan. Indifference is lethargy: it is parasitism, not life. Therefore, I hate the indifferent.
Indifference is the dead weight of history. Indifference plays an important role in history. It plays a passive role, but it does play a role. It is fatality; it is something that cannot be counted on; it is something that disrupts programmes, overturns the best made plans; it is that awful something that chokes intelligence. What happens, the evil that touches everyone, happens because the majority relinquish their will to it, allowing the enactment of laws that only a revolution can revoke, letting men rise to power who, later, only a mutiny can remove.
I am alive, partisan. And, therefore, I hate those who do not take sides; I hate the indifferent.
Reader Comments (4)
I couldn't agree more as I had the same thoughts last week on the role of educators. Sadly, it might be too late for the current generation of voters, but I believe (or want to believe?) the generations X, Y, and Z are doing much better.
Thank you for your reflecting on this and many great quotes.
No better proof of the failure of our educational system than the election of Donald Trump as president.
Doug I totally agree. The critical thinking of many is abysmal and information literacy doesn't seem to exist anywhere except possibly in libraries!
Hi Lilia,
Thanks for the positive words!
Doug
Hi Debra,
The conversation now around "fake" news stories on Facebook reminds me of the days we showed kids "fake" websites (tree octopus, failure of the velcro crop etc.) back with the Internet was young. We don't seem to have made much progress!
Doug