Be all that you can be

[coberst]

Be all that you can be

No, I am not suggesting that you join the Marines!

“The religious believer assigns dignity to whatever his religion holds sacred—a set of moral laws, a way of life, or particular objects of worship. He grows angry when the dignity of what he holds sacred is violated.” Quote from “The End of History and the Last Man”.

To what does the non believer assign dignity? If the non believer does not assign dignity to rationality and self-actualization, upon what foundation does s/he stand? If the non believer does depend upon rationality and self-actualization for dignity how is it possible that so few know anything about such matters?

Abraham Maslow tells us that there are two processes necessary for self-actualization: self exploration and action. Self exploration is very important, the deeper the self exploration, the closer one comes to self-actualization. Self-actualization results from our desire to actualize our potential. As the Marines might say “Be all that you can be”.

I think that the area in which Western society fails most egregiously is in the matter of an intellectual life after schooling. We have a marvelous brain that goes into the attic after schooling is complete and is brought out only occasionally on the job or when we try to play bridge or chess.

It appears to me that the fundamental problem faced by most Western democracies is a lack of intellectual sophistication of the total population. Our colleges and universities have prepared young people to become good producers and consumers. The college graduate has a large specialized database that allows that individual to quickly enter the corporate world as a useful cog in the machine. The results display themselves in our thriving high standard of living, high technology corporate driven life styles.

Our schools and colleges are beginning to introduce our young people to the domain of knowledge called Critical Thinking. CT is taught because our educators have begun to recognize that teaching a young person what to think is not sufficient for the citizens of a democracy in an age of high technology. CT is an attempt to teach young people how to think. Like the adage about giving a man a fish versus teaching him how to fish, a youngster who knows how to think is prepared for a lifetime rather than for a day.

What about today’s adult? Today’s adult was educated in a time when schools and colleges never gave universal instruction in the art and science of thinking—rationality.

If today’s adult wishes to learn CT s/he must learn it on their own nickel. I think a good read to begin with is this one
http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Educ/EducHare.htm

[BeatUp]

I agree. People just don't know how to think and don't care to learn. It's so depressing to me.

[TimM]

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I think that the area in which Western society fails most egregiously is in the matter of an intellectual life after schooling.

[/ QUOTE ]

And how do we compare with other societies?

[coberst]

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I think that the area in which Western society fails most egregiously is in the matter of an intellectual life after schooling.

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And how do we compare with other societies?

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I do not know. I suspect all capitalistic societies are the same. Our educational system prepares us to be good little producers and consumers and not to be critical thinking individuals.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

I agree. I think there should be more problem solving and rational thinking taught in schools. I don't want to be one of those guys who says that chemistry and physics are pointless because you are never going to use it, but I think most people (well, dumb people) would be better taking CT classes. Evolution and understanding the way our minds work also seem like they should be taught more in school.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think that the area in which Western society fails most egregiously is in the matter of an intellectual life after schooling.

[/ QUOTE ]

And how do we compare with other societies?

[/ QUOTE ]

I do not know. I suspect all capitalistic societies are the same. Our educational system prepares us to be good little producers and consumers and not to be critical thinking individuals.

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I think everywhere in the world is like this, but its pretty sad that in a country as rich as the United States that people are so dumb and lazy.

[TimM]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I think that the area in which Western society fails most egregiously is in the matter of an intellectual life after schooling.

[/ QUOTE ]

And how do we compare with other societies?

[/ QUOTE ]

I do not know. I suspect all capitalistic societies are the same. Our educational system prepares us to be good little producers and consumers and not to be critical thinking individuals.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just don't get what society has to do with any of this. Aren't we better off in this regard than more primitive ones? Sure we have work to do, but you can't blame western society for that. It's not like we aren't making progress. Look at the general state of education 100 years ago for instance.

[coberst]

tim

It depends upon what you calculate progress to be. We have created a tchnology that provides us with the power to destroy the planet. We have created a people who are rapidly eating the planet. We have just passed through a century that is the most despicable I can imagine. This is progress?

[GoRedBirds]

I like this thread, coberst. And I agree with most here that rational thought is something that needs to be more of a focus in schools. I know where I went to school (midwestern US), only ~5% of the students were exposed to critical thinking through highschool. We had a gifted/talented program (I don't know what they call it now, probably something like accelerated learning) that focused almost entirely on critical thinking. After college, it still holds up as the most enjoyable line of classes I've ever taken. And regarding the last few posts, I think with democracy and the way people generally vote for people who are most like them, the ability of the masses to think critically is obviously important. Of course capitalism is a machine that needs plenty of cogs, but the decisions of millions of unthinking cogs can really screw things up.

[TimM]

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It depends upon what you calculate progress to be. We have created a tchnology that provides us with the power to destroy the planet. We have created a people who are rapidly eating the planet. We have just passed through a century that is the most despicable I can imagine. This is progress?

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You moved the target. I was specifically referring to progress in education.

I don't disagree with you on the importance of teaching critical thinking. I just don't agree with all the "we suck" rhetoric that comes along with it.

Please suggest a culture past or present that did or does a better job of teaching critical thinking to the masses than western style society.