Education, Ignorance, and The State of Our Society

There is a lot of talk around our educational system in this society, primarily about how dysfunctional it is. From the perspective that sees a society as a large web of interconnected relationships, this current state of dysfunction does not seem abnormal considering the societal context. Through the perspective that sees the web of relations between historical beginnings, cultural beliefs, societal behaviors, political agendas, and economic goals (to name a few), one can see a bigger picture of the complexity of this society's educational system.

Some of my professional training and practice comes from the biomedical (Western medicine) model of wellness. Through this model of medicine it is common to use the signs and symptoms of "the patient" to tract down what needs fixing. I think if we view the current state of the educational system as a collection of signs and symptoms of our society's "body" that it is not well and needs some fixing, the solutions may turn out to be entirely different than what most would expect.

From my perspective I see our educational system needing nothing short of a revolution in its design and goals. This is easier said than done when you acknowledge the web of relations that spreads to and from the educational system and the society as a whole. I believe that we as a society need to rethink how we define what it is to be educated.

How do you define education?

On the other side of the analytical coin, resides the oh so ugly word of "ignorance." I do not think that we can have a dialogue about what it means to be educated without looking deeply into how this society views the state of ignorance. There is an Eastern philosophy saying that - The expert's mind is limited and the beginner's mind is limitless. I think this gets at one of America's dysfunctional beliefs with respect to ignorance. Have we put so much value on "knowing" that we have lost the power of questioning? If you listen to any of the great scientific of philosophical minds of the past or present, you may just here a sincere level of humility that is rooted in the acknowledgment of not knowing, rather than knowing. This state of inquiring into the mysteries of life can also be viewed as valuing critical thinking as a posed to memorizing information.

I recently participated in a poetry workshop and would like to share a poem that came out of that experience. There is actually a revival of using poetry within the discipline of anthropology to diversify not only the medium of communication but the very thinking that we approach the study of humanity. The poem is an ode to ignorance.

Ode to Ignorance

Oh ignorance, you have been made out to be such the criminal, the villain, and the source of all evil.

I am here to appeal this unjust sentence that has been handed down to you.

The judges, your condemners, are merely confused educated fools.

Please forgive them for they have merely forgotten what a sincere childhood friend you were to them.

What I love about you, old ignorance, is your peaceful nature, your smiling face, your blissful laughter.

Your state of residence is pure potentiality, you are the seed of everything.

Knowledge is so limiting, so confining with its strictly enforced borders, its cold walls of knowing.

All the beginners know how wonderful you truly are, but they are shamed into believing that you are the enemy.

I love you, old ignorance, for you are the field of peace and true love.

It has all been one big misunderstanding.

I hope this post has stirred within you questions that you may not have looked at before, or maybe could look at again differently. I personally see education as the field where all the problems and their solution are to be found. This paradoxical way of looking at education is why the definition of what it is to be educated is so important to truly look at our educational system with some level of objectivity.

How do you view and feel about ignorance?