It's Not the Same

There's little argument that in the current internet environment that our population is more informed than ever. However, being informed and being educated are totally different things. Information is coming at everyone from everywhere. Unfortunately, most of it is not worth much. It takes an educated individual to be able to determine what part of that information has value. 

One sees many others calling for more young people to go the trade school route. There's nothing wrong with that. We need more trades people. And many high-school graduates are cut out for something less than a college degree. But you also hear voices discounting the need for a formal education. They essentially are saying that many degrees, after years of heavy investment, are worthless. Let's pump the brakes on that for a few minutes.

If we, as Americans, want our country to continue to be a world leader, we had better have folks educated in all of the various disciplines provided by a college education ready to lead. If, instead, we want people who have no background in the various core-curriculum offerings of a college bachelors degree to be our leaders...well, you will get what you get. We are bombarded every day with information provided by "every day experts" online. Do they consider themselves experts? Maybe. Are they? Not unless they've put in the time and study to be one on the topic. 

The concern I have in writing this is that we are becoming increasingly influenced by information that is more emotional expression than scholastic. If one involves themselves in social media in almost any form, you see it constantly. One sees memes and statements of political position that are entirely based on a one-sided, and usually uniformed, view of the world. Opinion-based information is dominant online, and becoming more prevalent in traditional media as well. A strong background of widely-accepted knowledge is necessary to evaluate these presentations. 

Short of a college degree, those who are voracious readers, or seekers of expertise in a field, certainly have the capacity to be intelligent consumers of information as well. We all have highly-intelligent friends whose life experience, and/or appetite for knowledge has separated them from the crowd. But the standard way for young people to be exposed to the humanities, social science, natural science, the arts, math, and other knowledge important to a well-rounded and capable individual, come from more than experiences and family-and-friends fed opinions.  

The dumbing down of America is happening. All we have to do is compare ourselves to the achievements of those in other countries in almost every field. The lack of emphasis on effective teaching and learning at the elementary and secondary level is frightening. This, in my opinion, leads to the vulnerability of the population to radical influences and underachievement of our youth. Being an intellectual consumer of the vast amounts of communication presented in 2022 is important to whether we will have children who can, and will, lead America effectively in 2042.