Received a link from Mom today to a site that summarizes a bunch of data on red/blue states. Much of it is a rehash of stuff I had seen elsewhere, but the chlamydia data was new.
What struck me, however, was the preface to the email:
Have a look. But as a teacher I repeat that it is our fault--that the American people can't recognize a shell game when they see one.
My first thought was, "Well that's noble, but teachers can't really take all the blame." After all, the media isn't doing us any favors, and Bush/Cheney/Rove seem possessed of a particularly virulent strain of evil. Upon further reflection, I am beginning to wonder just what role teachers, or more broadly the educational system in general, has played in the current debacle. The problem, I think, is that public education has to balance two different things. First, education has to give everyone the tools for critical thought so that they can recognize a shell game when it occurs. Second, there is a process of enculturation and socialization that occurs in schools. This second process is in some ways opposed to the first.
Think back to when you were in school and you learned about the presidents. If you were like me, you learned about Washington and Lincoln, and then you probably talked about whoever was president at the time. For me it was mostly Carter and Reagan. There were other presidents that got mentioned, but not in any real detail. We certainly never discussed the screwups like Nixon in any depth. As a result, to some extent all presidents get raised up to the same level as Washington and Lincoln, some sort of mythic status just short of deification. You learn to trust the president, because the president is the president. Even if you disagree with his ideas, there's an ingrained thought that says, "I may disagree with what President X says, but I know he has the best interests of the country at heart."
Now what happens when there is evidence that the president does not have the best interests of the country at heart? As rational thinkers, we hope that everyone can see through the facade. Unfortunately, there is a barrier that's been erected that gets in the way of seeing the truth. There are certain questions that don't get asked because to ask them would violate the social norms we've been brought up to believe.
It's at this point that I have to say that teachers/education emphatically do not need to take the blame. Because even if we assume that it is difficult for Americans to ask the right questions some times, it is not impossible. However, before they can ask these questions they have to have the right information. This is where the media's failures jump to front and center. I won't go into detail here, since other do it better, but suffice to say that it is extraordinarily difficult to get a full picture of what's going on in the world without concerted effort. Because of media consolidation (think Viacom, Sinclair Broadcasting, AOL/Time/Warner), deliberate distortion (think FOX, Sinclair again), misplaced priorities (Scott Peterson, sports, weather), and economics/laziness (how much of your news comes from wire services or network feeds?), most Americans only have the vaguest clue what's going on. Without good information, no one can ask the right questions.
The big question is, what can we do about it?
Posted by Jason at December 14, 2004 11:41 AM