THERE
ARE TWO TYPES!
Bumper sticker and tee shirt
writers have a special knack! They reduce
complicated ideas to one line, two at the most.
This is an especially good one:
“There are two types of people in this world:
1) those who can extrapolate from incomplete data ….”[i]
Birthers believe President Obama
isn’t a natural born citizen, Climate Change Deniers believe fossil fuels don’t
speed up climate change, some believe that three million illegal immigrants
voted in the last election, others that Trump received the majority of votes. Not one of these examples is true. Yet, millions of people believe them based on
false and incomplete data. When
confronted with irrefutable evidence to the contrary, they chalk it up to
“that’s your education talking.”[ii] Distrust of “educated elites” is widespread
and growing. “Educated” is now a
pejorative for many.
When we grow up steeped in an
insular culture or one that puts down those who don’t look like us, have a
different cultural background, or don’t believe what our faith teaches, it’s
easy to blame others for our situation. Factory
closings become the result of jobs shipped overseas. Minorities or immigrants take “our jobs.” Government regulators conspire to close our coalmines. When the only truth we have is our own truth,
we’re going to feel threatened by other people’s truth.[iii] We extrapolate all these beliefs from incomplete
data. How did we get this way?
H. L. Mencken said the secret of
successful demagoguery is “keep[ing] the
populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series
of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”[iv] Talk radio is a daily harangue of alarmism
designed to create fear. Cable TV, at
both ends of the spectrum is in the business of showing how bad the opposition
can be. Political parties no longer aim
to govern, but to deride the opposition.
Newspapers and magazines exhibit a bias reminiscent of the era of Yellow
Journalism. Special interest groups pour
money into disinformation campaigns, and false data is ok, “alternative facts”
some call them. We are a divided people
who only associate with those with whom we agree, only read newspapers or blogs
with which we agree, watch TV news with which we agree, and lack trust in
anyone or anything different. We fear
the new and the different. We don’t
trust facts, except those we adopted as our own. We talk past each other.
It’s easy to understand the fear
that permeates a large segment of the country.
If you live in a small rural town that relies on the local factory for
jobs, and it closes, you don’t have many options. You can’t make the mortgage payment, send
your kids to college, or trade schools. You
are afraid for the future. It’s unlikely
that you can move to another part of the country and take up a new trade or
learn new technical skills. The market
for middle-aged entry-level coders is probably weak.[v] Your local school district likely didn’t
allow you and others to develop new skills in new technologies on an ongoing
basis..
Tom
Friedman,[vi] a Pulitzer Prize winning author, points out
that technology now grows exponentially, so fast that Moore’s Law needed
rewriting. Technological disruption is
normal, but the current speed of change is scary. We need an education system that changes just
as quickly. We need people educated in
the new technologies, with new technologies.
Lifelong learning was never so important as today.
Traditional K-12 models may not meet the
challenges we face. How many of your
local schools have “smart boards” in each classroom? How many have tablets available for each
child? How many teachers can effectively
use this new technology? It’s been ten
years since Apple introduced the iPhone, and it changed the world. Have schools kept up? We pour billions of dollars into school
systems designed to make everyone college-ready. The truth is, however, that only 33% of
adults have a college degree.[vii] In ten states, less than 25% of adults have
degrees.[viii] It’s also true that most jobs, even highly
skilled ones don’t need a college degree.
Less than 50% of college graduates have jobs in their major field of
study. What path do schools offer the
70% who won’t earn a college degree? The
notion that everyone needs a college education is an extrapolation from
incomplete data.
Citizens
who are well educated or trained can buy a home, provide for their family, and
don’t need demagogues to make them fearful. We know that because it use to be that
way. Not too long ago our schools met
the needs of our nation. Fifty years later,
we are using the same model, with a few tweaks here and there.
Education
is the predicate for our future, yet the United States doesn’t have an agreed
upon national strategy for education. We
leave education to 14,000 local school districts. Common Core developed by state heads of education
and governors to bring a common set of expectations for schools was a
grass-roots effort. Too many people,
however, listened to the fear mongers and believed it was an attempt by the
federal government to take over local schools.
In the last ten years, 87% of job losses went to improved technology;
robots.[ix] Does your local high school teach coding,
robotics and other practical vocational courses? The solar energy industry created 300,000 new
jobs in the last few years. Does your
local high school teach solar technology, installation, and maintenance? Cars now run on batteries. Does your local school teach battery
technology and maintenance?
We
are in the midst of a sea change not unlike the beginning of the Industrial
Revolution. People who are unequipped to
meet the challenge are going to be afraid and listen to the demagogues who want
to lead them. Fear will turn into hate,
it always does, and we will continue as a divided country. A total revamping of our educational
philosophy and policies might help change the situation. We need a national strategy, implemented
locally, to educate and train all our students, not just the college
bound.
[i]
Neil deGrasse Tyson, Hayden Planetarium, NYC
[ii]
An Insider’s View: The Dark Rigidity of Fundamentalist Rural America Shane Trotter Alternet
[iii]
Why Is Everyone So Easily Offended?
Dwight Longenecker Patheos 2017
[iv]
H. L. Mencken In Defense of Women City Journal
[v] My
Father-in-Law Won’t Become a Coder, No Matter What Economist Say Dustin
McKissen Lindedin 2017
[vi] Thanks
for Being Late Thomas Friedman 2016
[vii]
Census.gov Current Population Reports
Ryan & Bauman 03/2016
[viii]
List of
U.S. states by educational attainment
Wikipedia 2016
[ix]
Financial Times December 2016
