MARCH 10, 2010<\/p>\n
Artificial Stupidity<\/strong><\/p>\n The American education system focuses more on politically correct crusades A woman with a petition went among the crowds attending a state fair, asking She collected hundreds of signatures to ban dihydroxymonoxide \u2014 a fancy This little episode revealed how conditioned we have become, responding like People are all born ignorant but they are not born stupid. Much of the Educational institutions created to pass on to the next generation the Many conservatives have protested against the specific things with which The experiences of life can help people outgrow whatever they were It was once the proud declaration of many educators that \u201cWe are here to Even if all the conclusions with which they indoctrinate their students were Many of today\u2019s \u201ceducators\u201d not only supply students with conclusions, but When we see children in elementary schools out carrying signs in A philosopher once said that the most important knowledge is knowledge of It takes a certain amount of knowledge just to understand the extent of Will Rogers once said that it was not ignorance that was so bad but \u201call the \u2014 Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. \u00a9 2010
\nthan intellectually correct arguments.<\/p>\n
\npeople to sign her petition demanding the banning of dihydroxymonoxide. She
\nsaid it was in our lakes and streams, and now it was in our sweat and urine
\nand tears.<\/p>\n
\nchemical name for water. A couple of comedians were behind this ploy. But
\nthere is nothing funny about its implications. It is one of the grim and
\ndangerous signs of our times.<\/p>\n
\nPavlov\u2019s dog when we hear a certain sound \u2014 in this case, the sound of some
\npolitically correct crusade.<\/p>\n
\nstupidity we see today is induced by our educational system, from the
\nelementary schools to the universities. In a high-tech age that has seen the
\ncreation of artificial intelligence by computers, we are also seeing the
\ncreation of artificial stupidity by people who call themselves educators.<\/p>\n
\nknowledge, experience, and culture of the generations that went before them
\nhave instead been turned into indoctrination centers to promote whatever
\nnotions, fashions, or ideologies happen to be in vogue among today\u2019s
\nintelligentsia.<\/p>\n
\nstudents are being indoctrinated. But that is not where the most lasting
\nharm is done. Many, if not most, of the leading conservatives of our times
\nwere on the left in their youth. These have included Milton Friedman, Ronald
\nReagan, and the whole neoconservative movement.<\/p>\n
\nindoctrinated with. What may persist, however, is the lazy habit of hearing
\none side of an issue and being galvanized into action without hearing the
\nother side \u2014 and, more fundamentally, not having developed any mental skills
\nthat would enable you to systematically test one set of beliefs against
\nanother.<\/p>\n
\nteach you how to think, not what to think.\u201d But far too many of our teachers
\nand professors today are teaching their students what to think \u2014 about
\neverything from global warming to the new trinity of \u201crace, class, and
\ngender.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n100 percent correct, that would still not be equipping students with the
\nmental skills to weigh opposing views for themselves, in order to be
\nprepared for new and unforeseeable issues that will arise over their
\nlifetimes, after they leave the schools and colleges.<\/p>\n
\npromote the idea that students should spring into action because of these
\nprepackaged conclusions \u2014 in other words, vent their feelings and go
\ngalloping off on crusades, with neither a knowledge of what is said by those
\non the other side nor the intellectual discipline to know how to analyze
\nopposing arguments.<\/p>\n
\ndemonstrations, we are seeing the kind of mindless groupthink that causes
\nadults to sign petitions they don\u2019t understand or, worse yet, follow leaders
\nthey don\u2019t understand, whether to the White House, the Kremlin, or
\nJonestown.<\/p>\n
\none\u2019s own ignorance. That is the knowledge that too many of our schools and
\ncolleges are failing to teach our young people.<\/p>\n
\none\u2019s own ignorance. But our \u201ceducators\u201d have given assignments to children
\nwho are not yet a decade old to write letters to members of Congress, or to
\nPresidents, spouting off on issues ranging from nuclear weapons to medical
\ncare.<\/p>\n
\nthings we know that ain\u2019t so.\u201d But our classroom indoctrinators are getting
\nstudents to think that they know after hearing only one side of an issue. It
\nis artificial stupidity.<\/p>\n
\nCreators Syndicate, Inc.<\/p>\n