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Greetings:<br><br>
This is a column that will soon appear in the <i>Sandpoint
Reader</i>. On a related note, some of you have asked where the
"Intelligent Falling" spoof came from. Where else but the
incomparable <i>Onion</i>, one of the funniest mags I've ever read?
Many more belly laughs per paragraph than even Dave Berry.<br><br>
<div align="center">WHAT DO YOU KNOW? NOT MUCH!<br>
Anti-Intellectualism and America’s Future<br><br>
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The host of a popular NPR radio program begins his weekly show with this
question: “What do you know?” to which the audience replies
enthusiastically “Not much!” The highlight of the show is a quiz
involving trivia questions at which even the most well informed
contestants have to guess.<br><br>
When I visit India my professional friends parade their children before
me in an impressive show of their academic achievements. One night
one seven-year old did a virtuoso recitation of all the US states and
their capitals. Many Americans of any age would be hard pressed to
locate India on a map, let alone many of the American states.<br><br>
My Indian experience was not limited to the scholarly elite. After
realizing that her very existence depended upon it, I reluctantly kept
the servant that came with my one-bedroom apartment in Bangalore. Lakshmi
had an invalid husband and three daughters, and she worked long hours to
pay for her daughters’ tuition. They came with her every day, and
they worked diligently all morning preparing for their afternoon
classes.<br><br>
One day in November, 1992, two students came to my office at Panjab
University and, after a short greeting, asked me what the meaning of life
was. I was amazed and stunned. I gathered my wits enough to
give them a short lecture on the wisdom of the Middle Way of Buddha,
Confucius, and Aristotle. In thirty-one years of teaching American
students, I was never asked a question of such magnitude and
profundity.<br><br>
It is well known that Americans are the most insular and worst informed
people in the world. Nigerian Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka was
utterly surprised to hear an educated American speak of the recent war in
Yugoslavia as if it took place in Asia and involved the Chinese
Communists. Soyinka rightly believes that geography is just as
important as history, which is “the material reality from which
everything else derives.”<br><br>
We Americans have a president who once called the Greeks
“Greecians.” (That’s a hair formula, George!) During the 2000
election he could not identify any of the central Asian countries that
were important for Iraq and Afghanistan. Bush also scandalized the
American Indian community by calling the Hindus “Hindis.” I hope
that he got that straight before receiving the Indian prime minister on a
recent state visit. I assume that he was told that the Manmohan
Singh is a Sikh and not a Hindu. This is the type of ignorance that led
men in California to drag a Sikh from his car and beat him to death
because he was an “Arab.”<br><br>
Not only do Americans know very little of substance, they are, incredibly
enough, proud of their ignorance and vote for a president as ill informed
as themselves. Sadly H. L. Mencken’s 1920 prophecy has been fulfilled:
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and
more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and
glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire
at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright
moron.”<br><br>
Mencken of course exaggerates, because this problem is not a matter of
intelligence. One of my students once wrote a course evaluation
that began “this professor is a good teacher, but he thinks we are a
bunch of dumb shits.” This student totally missed the point of the
sermonette that prompted this response. After an especially bad
test performance, I told this ethics class that I thought that two years
of compulsory national service would be a good thing for every high
school graduate as a way to get a better grip on their lives.<br><br>
Today’s American students are smart enough IQ-wise, but they are not
prepared, either emotionally or academically, to take full advantage of
the university experience. The U.S. has the lowest high school
graduation rate in the industrial world; and only half those graduates, a
recent study has shown, are actually prepared for higher
education.<br><br>
If it not IQ, what is it? In 1963 it took me a long while to screw
up my courage to inform my parents that I was switching my major from
oceanography to philosophy. My dad answered the phone and there was a
long pause after I blurted out my decision. His response was: “Son,
how on earth will you make any money doing that?”<br><br>
We Americans are a very practical people and this pragmatic spirit is the
genius that has allowed us to succeed in so many areas. But there
is a down side to this optimistic “always-can-do” or “always-get-results”
attitude. For many Americans, such as my dear father, education,
and the knowledge it ensues is a means to end rather than an end in
itself.<br><br>
European and Asian cultures still respect knowledge as an end itself and
they value their teachers more and pay them accordingly. These
societies also give solid support their schools and their students. For
example, all Danish university students who keep up their grades are
given a $500 monthly stipend.<br><br>
While Congress cuts the National Science Foundation budget and prohibits
funding for stem cell research, countries such as Korea blaze new
scientific paths. Asia and Europe see the wisdom of investing in human
capital as well as research and development. They realize that
taxes are the price we pay for high culture and civilization.<br><br>
There is a bitter irony in our crude utilitarian view of education and
knowledge. Americans want their children to get good educations and
become doctors, attorneys, scientists, and university professors.
But many of them then turn around and reject the expertise and knowledge
that these professionals develop. <br><br>
I was shocked at a recent documentary featuring students talking about
evolution. Almost without exception these students thought their
own personal opinion about human origins was just as good as the results
of population genetics. Even more problematic is the fact that some
scientists, many inspired by their religious faith, are proposing that
the theology of “intelligent design” is on par with the science of
evolution. For more on this topic see
</font><a href="http://www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/design.htm" eudora="autourl"><font face="Times New Roman, Times" color="#0000FF"><u>www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/design.htm</a></u></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">.<br><br>
State Farm Insurance just moved its headquarters and its $60 million
payroll out of Monroe, Louisiana (Steve Wilkins' town!) because of the
area’s lack of “intellectual capital.” Even with lucrative
financial incentives from several southern states, Toyota has chosen to
locate a new plant in Canada. Although labor costs are higher, the
Japanese don’t have to pay employee health insurance. But the main
reason is that over the years they have been disappointed at the
education level of the Dixie workforce.<br><br>
India and China are producing far more computer scientists and engineers
than we are and foreign students now dominate American graduate schools
in these areas. Fewer and fewer American students are choosing
these fields, primarily because they lack the study skills, ambition, or
work ethic that these disciplines require. Too many students lack
<i>Sitzfleish</i>, a German word that indicates that virtual flesh that
exists between one’s behind and the study chair.<br>
<br>
The
21</font><font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=1><sup>st</sup></font><font face="Times New Roman, Times">
Century will definitely belong to India and China, as well as the equally
well trained and well informed citizens of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, the
Phillipines, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and Indonesia. They
have just as much <i>Sitzfleish</i> as our forebearers. A Calvinist
capitalism that neglects knowledge for knowledge’s sake will be replaced
by new Confucian, Hindu, and even Muslim varieties.<br><br>
Nick Gier taught philosophy and religion at the University of Idaho for
31 years.<br><br>
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<font size=2>"The god you worship is the god you
deserve."<br>
~~ Joseph Campbell<br>
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