Tag: America
We Need to Do Better at Prioritizing Important Topics in Primary Education
I was helping with my son’s 6th-grade social studies homework yesterday, where, for this semester, they’re studying India’s history. It’s mildly interesting, but in the back of my mind, I can’t help but think: “Why the hell is he learning this?”
Don’t get me wrong, I think being exposed to a variety of topics and subjects is good on some level, but that “some level”, is probably at most an hour or two for things that aren’t really relevant to his existence, or help him prepare for the future, or maybe most importantly, aren’t really making for a better future for all of us.
I guess I would be fine with this little diversion into history if we weren’t failing in the education game in so many other ways. I’m sure he’ll make it through his primary education without touching on formal logical fallacies, or some basic economics principles, or how the US calculates his taxes. He won’t be exposed to ideas for how to think in ways that perhaps don’t come naturally, or how to push deeper into thoughts, going beyond those initial inhibitions that allow you to arrive in some really interesting places if you can think beyond them.
Again, I think it’s good to touch on random topics, like the history of India. Perhaps it will speak to some students, and spur some fascination or passion that will serve them well through life. But we can undoubtedly do a better job of prioritizing some things that will have a higher chance of creating better people, and a better country. And we desperately need to do so.
Better Representative Democracy
The whole gerrymandering thing is an unnecessary issue that arises from an archaic and ill-conceived idea. Drawing lines on maps for most purposes seems to lead to issues, and especially when determining representation for individual citizens.
In my utopian nation, we still have representatives, but there are two key differences:
- You can choose one of the five closest representatives to you. This means that you can most likely find one that aligns at least remotely close to your views.
- Each representative’s power when voting is directly tied to the amount of people they represent, ensuring that everyone’s voice is equal.
There are likely some issues with this, and opportunity for further refinement (perhaps limiting the total number of people each representative can represent would be good), but these two ideas, if applied to the current US system, would create a far fairer situation.
The Danger of “All Men Are Created Equal”
I wonder how much of the lack of empathy in the US is a result of the “all men are created equal” line from the Declaration of Independence. When I was younger, I always felt that this was a positive, uplifting message, but as I’ve grown older, I feel that perhaps while the intent was good, I’m no longer sure that it has a positive impact on society.
Disregarding the obvious (most likely incorrect) assumption about being “created”, I don’t like this line because I think buried in the phrasing is a notion that we all have the same capabilities to overcome setbacks, even those that are unfairly placed on some people and not others. And this makes it easier to blame people for their positions in life, regardless of if it’s truly anything that they have any control over. From the position of many, I get the sense that “I had my setbacks, and since we’re all created equally, you should also be able to meet whatever challenges you face.”
This of course ignores the fact that we aren’t really all equal in terms of ability (whether intellectual, athletic, or any of the other million characteristics that make us all unique), or that we all have to deal with the same level of setbacks in life, or even have the same opportunities. And that’s a pretty dangerous thing. If we recognized that we all have different challenges, and that we aren’t all equipped to handle things equally, perhaps we would be better at helping each other out, and do our best to make life fairer, even though it’s inherently unfair.
Is the US Now Authoritarian?
Before I had to think about such things, I always just assumed that there was a line — you’re either living in Authoritarianism, or you’re not. But there of course a range of conditions that move you either to the left or right along that line, and we have definitely moved towards the authoritarianism end, especially during (but not limited to) Trump’s second term. And we’ve been doing it with remarkable speed. I keep hearing that “we’re on the road to authoritarianism”, which I guess just also assumes that there is a magic line, or perhaps it’s just how we all tend to think — that there is a point where one thing becomes another. And that line exists at a different point for some all of us. For me, I feel as though we’ve definitely ticked enough checkboxes to land us in that authoritarian zone. There may be plenty of more room on the spectrum to lead us more fully into authoritarianism, but we’ve definitely moved quite a bit further away from the “ideal democracy” side of things.
Democracy Or Not?
I had never really thought about democracy as something that exists along a spectrum (but the more I think about various topics in general, it seems that nothing is ever really an either/or as we generally think of them). I had always assumed that here in the US we live in a democracy, but I’m not really sure at one point along that spectrum you go from “no democracy”, where citizens have zero say in how things are run, to an “ideal democracy”, where everyone’s vote counts, and counts equally. We’ve never had an “ideal democracy” in the US — as a Californian, my vote has always counted less than the votes of people in some other states. But as we gerrymander state representatives to favor some groups of people more than others, we’re moving even further away from that “ideal democracy.” How far can you move before it really isn’t democracy any more?
Pride
I keep thinking on pride — it’s interesting that as the nation circles the drain into populism/nationalism/tribalism, and where those on the right are more proud of whatever the hell this country has become, that my pride has started to become more broadly applied. I’m more interested in what scientific advancements and technological breakthroughs are happening here, but also now more from beyond our borders. I’m taking more pride in the best of what humanity provides, no matter where it’s found. I have a feeling that there is much more of it out there than what I have previously assumed.
Ignorance, Power, and Communication
I believe our current (dreadful) situation as a nation is heavily brought about by the lack of thinking ability for a large swath of the country. It’s not really their fault of course, no one gets to choose their natural abilities or upbringing. But it is a serious issue that we really need to face as a species I feel like we can combat much of our issues by just having better education, and easier access to it, and honestly, this seems like the easiest approach. But we can also come at it from the other end — finding ways to limit power (things like Trump, Fox News, Joe Rogan), and find better ways to communicate, or break through these bubbles that exist, that are currently very difficult to break into. Education in comparison seems easy, but perhaps the needed, more robust approach is to hit the issue from both sides.