Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, December 7, 2015

Steven Sheffey (#8): The third Installment

First Post here
Second post here

I believe that the most important aspect of an advanced society is the educational system. Unfortunately, American education and academia is not usually given nearly as much priority as is appropriate for an advanced nation. Primary and secondary education is largely dominated by standardized testing, and strict, all-encompassing rubrics. I don't mean to demonize standardization, though. Setting a baseline of knowledge throughout the educational system leads to an educated population, which is a very important mark of an advanced society. However, the extent to which standardization has been taken is far beyond the extent to which it is useful. Many schools have fallen into a pattern of teaching people to learn for the sake of meeting standards, rather than for the sake of knowledge. Students are mostly taught to memorize facts and processes, apply these to a standardized test, and then promptly forget all that they have learned. Instilling a desire for knowledge is an extremely important part of the educational process. If all students in the American education system were to gain a desire for knowledge, we could build a society in which ignorance and hate would be replaced by knowledge and compassion. Marco Rubio said recently that we need more welders and less philosophers, because philosophers supposedly make less money. I would disagree with Rubio on multiple levels. Firstly, I believe society shouldn't be working to send more welders into the workforce. I believe society should be working to sent robotics experts into the world to build robots that replace welders, because the less labor citizens have to do, the more they can focus on academic and intellectual pursuits. As far as I know, philosophers, scientists, programmers, artists, and other intellectuals won't be replaced by robots within this century.

1 comment:

  1. Best of all, in the interim between now and the robotic future: a society of more philosophical and reflective welders, politicians, and everything else!

    I'm guessing Mr. Rubio didn't do well in Philosophy 101.

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