• Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      Essentially all of America’s problems are because its population is so uneducated. We want simple answers to complicated questions because that’s the best we can hope to understand. 52% of us can barely read at a 6th grade level FFS. The ignorance then allows us to entertain some pretty dark thoughts leading us to Trump.

      • Jhex@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Hmmmm while I agree a large uneducated population is a terrible problem, I would not say this is the cause. I would characterize it as a “condition” necessary to get this low.

        I find just saying all problems are because of lack of education feels like an indirect way of saying “If I take advantage of you, it’s only because you let me” which I believe leaves the evil-doers off the hook

        Kind of like saying “the problem with school shootings is because kids are so soft and squishy, they are easily destroyed by bullets” (obviously I am exaggerating here to make my point clearer)

        • Robust Mirror@aussie.zone
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          21 hours ago

          Except the evil doers are the ones specifically making sure people are uneducated.

          I’m also curious what you would say is the cause? You argued against the point but didn’t make any new ones.

          • Jhex@lemmy.world
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            7 hours ago

            Except the evil doers are the ones specifically making sure people are uneducated.

            That is exactly the point I am making. I didn’t argue against the point, I argued against the framing

            So instead of framing it as “the population is uneducated” it would be framed as “oligarchs are keeping the population uneducated”…

          • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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            14 hours ago

            So,

            “Problems exist because there aren’t enough good people [with enough power].”

            Or what can we state confidently?

    • IngeniousRocks (They/She) @lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      Of course we are, our education system is designed to churn out undereducated, incapable of critical thought, silent, obedient cogs for the corporate machine.

      Edit: made a typo

      • taiyang@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I want to point out that, especially after No Child Left Behind, we’ve actively worked to teach-to-the-test in public schools. That was a bipartisan compromise to make education “accountable” that ultimately worsened education. Obama’s DoE helped, slightly, in 2015 adjustments but it’s still no where near where it should be and made only worse by a push to get more charters and affordable private schools that don’t understand pedagogy.

        That is to say, uneducated isn’t quite right as It’s not a lack of education, but more of a misguided pedagogy that prioritizes rote memorization over deductive reasoning and critical thinking. It’s not a lack of trying, but an avoidence of evidence based approaches.