Originally shared by Assia Alexandrova
This self-serving over-critical-ness is a symptom of the overall phenomenon whereby people perceive government as something entirely external to them, and not a product of their agency and choices.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/we-want-an-open-government-but-were-far-too-critical-for-it/article27639975
That's a good article. We have to remember that governments are run by people, and people respond to incentives. If open government is disincentivised, no it won't happen.
ReplyDeleteAnd even in academia, where saying "I was wrong" should be a sign of progress, it all too often is seen as a sign of admitting stupidity. In politics it's ten thousand times worse, because every time a u-turn happens the press descend like a flock of rabid vultures.
ReplyDeleteI've often found it strange that changing one's opinion is considered "waffling" or "indecisive" and problematic.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to change your opinion based on the evidence is probably the best skill anybody can learn.
That's something I think we should be hammering into people from an early age, constantly and throughout the whole of the compulsory education system.
ReplyDeleteHumanities classes are pretty good for that since it's all subjective anyway and there's not really a right answer, just a better way of expressing your opinion.
But there's rarely an emphasis in humanities on changing one's own opinions, is there? I never really heard that message in my primary school education at all, in science or humanities.
ReplyDeleteIt's a difficult skill to teach, since there needs to be an emphasis on being open to criticism and to renewal. I'm not sure how to convey it at a primary school level.
At a higher level, I think the history of science, taught well, can be a good way of conveying the idea.
Something that happened fairly regularly for me in primary school and to a lesser extent in high school was that we would hold debates about some topic. The only two I can remember offhand from primary school was a debate on who was responsible for the sinking of the Titanic, and vivisection. In both cases, we were asked what our opinion was on the issue, a poll was taken, and then we were forced to argue the exact opposite.
ReplyDeleteIn both cases, the opinion poll after the debate was considerably different to when we started. Critical thinking and the virtue of being wrong weren't taught directly, but the message wasn't subtle. I wish we'd had more of that, especially through high school.
Also : http://astrorhysy.blogspot.cz/2015/05/oh-humanities.html
Your high school humanities classes sound better than mine were by a lot!
ReplyDeleteMy high school English classes were mostly the teachers forcing the students to do the assigned reading in class because no one did the homework. It was a complete waste of everybody's time.
I got nothing like that until university level.
I was lucky enough to have a good course with good teachers. History was a mix of a terrible course with some good material thrown in randomly and awful teachers. It could have been so much more useful. When they're done well, the humanities classes can give some of the most useful lessons of all. That lesson on adverts has stuck with me to this day.
ReplyDeleteI've often wondered if there should be a more explicit critical thinking course. My worry is that like PSE lessons, schools wouldn't take it seriously and neither would students (at least at high school level). I think it needs to be a cleverly-integrated component of all lessons, though this is not easy to do.
I agree with your assessment about a dedicated critical thinking course. It's too easy to write it off as fluff and not take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm not sure critical thinking can be taught by itself, in isolation. After all, you need to think critically about something.
Unlike what our founding fathers wanted, the US is not a nation "of the people, by the people and for the people." The US is controlled by corporations who are, in turn, controlled by the Cabal banking system. That said, the hierarchy goes even higher than that. Alas, that is another topic. The Federal Reserve Bank, which is not a government entity, has driven the US economy into the ground. While the banks comprising the Cabal banking system are making enormous profits, the vast majority of society in the US is suffering. If you would like to read more about the hideous cabal banking system, you can take a look at my recent post on the topic.
ReplyDelete