Misleading Facts and Critical Thinking

My sister recently shared a video from Upworthy about wealth distribution in America. It leaves the distinct impression that things are unfair in America’s economic system. It uses facts and sources to back up it’s point. And it is very convincing.

However, it also left me with some questions. Lots of questions.

Questions like: Did the overall standard of living go up as well? How does the poverty level today compare with the poverty level in the decades they were comparing? In other words, in real dollars, has the poverty line moved or stayed the same? Has opportunity to join the ranks of the wealthy gone up or down? What caused this? How does America’s poor compare with the wealth and poverty of other nations?

Without debating the actual facts of the video, the message it sends or the mistaken concept of wealth as a finite resource instead of a renewable or expanding resource, I want to address these sorts of videos as a general whole.

Improving education without rejecting the system Pt 2

Back clear before Christmas, I talked about the problems and  by best-case-scenario for our education system. I also gave you part 1 of 2 of my more realistic solutions for the very broken way we “educate” you kids.

Holiday busyness prevented part 2, but it’s finally finished (for all one or two of you who have been anxiously awaiting it…)

Improving education without rejecting the system Pt 1

Monday’s post took a very simple approach to solving our education problems. However that solution is a best-case scenario and not everyone will be able to chose that solution (and some just won’t).

There is also going to still have to be some other option for those who can’t or won’t chose to take responsibility for their own or their children’s education.

There is also going to have to be a period where we transition from the current system to something new.

So what other solutions do we have?

My solution for formal education

The last three blogs I posted talked about my dislike for our formal education system. The longer I wrote, the more strongly I felt like it is a major problem and one we don’t really recognize. We all know the system is flawed and even broken, but few recognize the extent of damage it’s causing.

The good news is, I don’t just have problems in my head. I also have solutions.

In the simplest terms, my solutions is this: reject the system. In other words, self-educate.

My case against formal education Pt 3

I was going to post about solutions today, but a couple of recent comments on my blog have me thinking more about this problem.

Perhaps today’s title is wrong, since my issues today are less about formal education and more about the current system, but I still think they should be addressed.

Even if we could fix the inherent problems in the current system (cost, status and a failure to teach critical thinking and independence), we are still left with a few really big problems. It’s also really important to remember that the system itself has these problems almost built-in, and somewhat by design.

My case against formal education Pt 2

My last post introed my beef with formal education. I specifically focused on college, but said that my issues were not limited to the 4-6+ years spent at a university.

For hundreds, if not thousands, of years, people were pretty much self-educated. There were periods of woeful ignorance and periods of formal education, but the modern system is fairly unique.

My case against formal education Pt 1

There is a huge push for increased formal education. Fix the K12 public school system, figure out how to make college more accessible, more affordable, get everyone a 4-year degree and emphasize math and science and… POOF!… we’ve fixed all our problems.

Ok, maybe no one is claiming that, but there is a big push for more high school and college graduates.

Inseparably Connected

On Wednesday I posted a blog that talked about a really frightening and frustrating element of American corruption.

The only solution for it is an informed and constantly watchful electorate.

I believe, as I have for as long as I can remember, that the strength of America has always been her people.

I also believe that that is the weakness of our country as well.