Lack of thinking, not technology, is bad

This article submitted by Sadie on 1/12/03.

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Thoughts:

I don't think that it is technology that is destroying our culture. I think it is our dependance upon the technologies around us that is making society become so gullible. I work in the public schools and whenever I ask a tenth grade math class what three multiplied by four is, it never ceases to amaze me how many of them reach for their calculators. A recent study I saw stated that men that drink two or three drinks a night, three or four times a week are less likely to have a heart attack. Science has attributed this fact to certain chemicals in the alcohol reacting in certain ways. My first thought when reading this article was, "I always thought drinking more than once in a while was unhealthy." Then I started to think of what other reasons these men might have for not having heart attacks. Is it possible that they are less stressed because they go out so often with the boys and have a good time, thus decreasing the chance of heart attack by decreasing over-all stress. The study does not say what socioeconomic background these people have. Perhaps none of these men hold actual jobs because they are wealthy enough not to need them or unfortunate enough not to find one. Therefore they get more sleep than most people and their bodies are more well-rested. But according to science, now it is good for men to drink three or four nights a week.

People in this country need to learn to think critically and to stop believing everything they hear or read. These lost souls are why fad diets catch on so well or why infomercials actually get customers. Children in the schools do not value learning any more. When Mr. Postman made the statement that the schools have become an avenue for children to get an "education" in order to get a job, I couldn't have agreed more. I went to college with a major in mind because I wanted to have a certain job. I did not go to college to study a certain subject because it was valuable. And after taking a philosophy class, I totally regeared my life because I realized I had never stopped to think about why what I was doing was important and what value did it have. This is all related to the fact that a public school education is a huge mix of seemingly unrelated skills and most public school programs make no effort to show any correlation between subjects. Teachers do aim to be popular more than they aim to educate but why shouldn't they? If the children like them, their job is by far easier. No one in the administration ever cracks down on a teacher for being well-liked and as long as the students do well on the state exams, the administration generally could care less. No one cares if children can think anymore. It needs to change but I for one, don't know the first place to start simply because the whole system is so far off that an entire overhaul would be necessary. Schools think making exams more difficult is the answer. No, that simply means the students learn for more complex exams but they still don't know how to think about what they are learning. Semantics and philosophy would be so good for students but it's never in the budget. Instead, out government spends its money on the military far more than it really needs to and giving senators a raise every single year. It's so sad that a bunch of people that are supposed to be elected to tend to our well-being spend more time trying to further line their already wealthy pockets than to make sure the next generation will have the skills necessary to survive.

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