By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index

It is impossible for a person to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows. -Epictetus

As you may have seen on these pages previously, or perhaps on any given day’s news headlines, stunning levels of ignorance and stupidity – coupled with equally stratospheric levels of confidence based on nothing except the certainty that they – and only they – are “right” in any and every category seems to be the reigning belief system of our time.

From politics to religion to opinions about food, movies or business practices, we are awash in information and experts with their own implied – or sometimes blatant – agenda of their own.

From YouTube to cable news to infomercials, we are besieged by appeals and arguments that seem inconvertible and compelling – at least until we hear an equally compelling and convincing argument on the other side. Or even a third or fourth side.

And very quickly, if we can be shaken from our initial point of conviction, we realize that, not only is any given subject more complicated (sometimes vastly more complicated) and that, in the vast majority of cases, people of good faith and good will often hold opposite positions – often passionately. Or even more puzzling to many, people of intelligence and ethical integrity might care little about a topic that others obsess about.

In physics, the study of how the universe works and behaves, there is a simple saying – “as our island of knowledge grows so does the shore of our ignorance”. In other words, the more we learn about any subject, from nutrition to jazz to human metabolism, the more we realize how much more there is to learn. At least if we are willing to.

But I would make the argument that the major failing of our era is our unwillingness to learn, or even take seriously new – and often disconcerting, if not outright contradictory information.

A couple years ago, my granddaughter at about age three, after learning her ABCs, basic colors and numbers (up to ten) triumphantly declared, “I know everything!”

We might smile at the naivete of a child, but how many of us know someone who, after watching a video or two online, declares themselves a reigning expert on anything from the Constitution to global politics to the efficacy of vaccines or medical techniques?

For a child, it is actually a reasonable conclusion to believe that, once one has mastered the basic elements of life (the alphabet, numbers and primary colors) all of life should be able to be understood and managed with at least a modicum of predictability and confidence. It might not be mastery of the fine print and multitude of contradictory demands and appeals from every conceivable (or even inconceivable) stakeholder, participant and potential victim of any belief or philosophical position, but it is, at least, a beginning.

And perhaps that is what the best learning is; an acknowledgement of beginning to learn.

Commencement

We often forget that the term most associated with graduation is “commencement”. The word “commencement” literally means beginning.

Education is great, but like knowing one’s ABCs, basic colors and numbers, any graduation, degree or certificate is only the beginning.

If there is anything any graduate at any level should have learned, it is that learning never stops. Unlike school, education in life is never finished, never completed.

Education, at its best, is a foundation, a launching pad into the immensities and complexities of a world fraught with contradictions and compelling, if not paralyzing, needs, fractures and crises.

And the best education is not where one emerges and imagines that they know everything, but that they have learned how to learn – how to engage, make sense of, and to some degree at least, approach an ever-changing economy, society and set of technologies with at minimum, the basic skills and confidence to address the problems that seem to multiply and grow deeper and stronger every day.

Hell is empty and all the devils are here – William Shakespeare

As always in history, a whole host of parasites, hucksters and opportunists are eager and willing to fill any vacuum.

There was a time when people of faith, or even those who valued human rights on a secular level would urge justice and all of the safeguards protecting it. But that too, apparently, is the product of a more innocent time. What we seem to have is an enemy arrayed against justice and decency – and it is only possible with widespread ignorance and apathy.

It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have. -James Baldwin

Nostalgia and nonsense

As a citizen of our era might expect, it tends to be the states and regions of our country with the lowest high school graduation rates and fewest college graduates who believe they have the solutions to this multiplicity of dilemmas.

Here’s an excerpt from a conservative article where they propose a more practical and patriotic curriculum; “Wrestling should be mandated in middle schools. Students could learn to build and shoot guns as part of a normal course of action in schools and learn how to grow crops and prepare them for meals. Every male student could learn to skin an animal and every female to milk a cow. This is what a training in citizenship looks like”.

Maybe it’s just me and my (mostly) secular public education, but mandatory wrestling? Building and shooting guns in schools? And have every boy learn how to skin an animal and every girl learn to milk a cow? Are these transferable skills for any except the most barbaric of subsistence cultures?

And these are what “training in citizenship looks like”? What era, civilization or even planet would that be?

The larger cultural assumptions seems to be “Little House on the Prairie” meets “Mad Max”.

In case you didn’t notice, a strict hierarchy is built into these assumptions. Those who have had power and privilege should be kept by those who have always had it and those marginalized should “know their place” and stay in it; if they get angry enough, that’s good too. As this article goes on to say “reforms can be achieved when public opinion reaches a boiling point. Elected officials must prepare public opinion”.

Ironies abound in this quote. Dissatisfied minions will at some point revolt and, apparently, will follow the dictates of “elected officials” who have “prepared public opinion”. The pre-packaged rage from cable TV suddenly makes sense. And this comes from a corner of our political spectrum that has (until recently apparently) sown fear and distrust of “elites” and have been advocates of “limited government”. And now they want us all to pledge allegiance to a “prepared public opinion” put together by elected officials? How many of them, for most of us, inspire our confidence and trust now – let alone in a time of need or disorientation?

Not to worry though, according to their pronouncements, ignorance, dependence and government control are poised to save the day and these true believers are ready to step up (or at least remake our culture in their own image).

This particular article closes with a thought that should chill every parent, citizen and historian-especially those who have direct or even academic exposure to authoritarian states – they urge a “determined effort to destroy and dishonor the current K–12 and higher education systems”.

After all, as Pink Floyd put it a generation ago “We don’t need no education”….

Editor’s note: One of my benchmarks of literature or any good writing is that it stands the test of time. An informed reader of five years ago – or five years from now – should be able to make sense of it. With terms like “woke” and “the Left” the jargon is not only locked in time, but appeals to readers’ inherent biases. The aforementioned article cited uses a lot of words with little, if any, insight or original thought.