Impractical Subjects…

Here’s a classic stupid question from Quora:

Why do schools not teach us about tax and laws, but teach us about stuff we don’t need?

And the answer…

Define “don’t need.” Some Americans think that subjects such as history, literature, rhetoric, and language come under that heading.

• Failing to teach history* and civics (closely related subjects) has brought us the mess we have in Washington today. Ignorance begets ignorance.

• Failing to teach rhetoric has meant that voters and consumers do not recognize when they’re being hoodwinked by fast talkers. That lack of basic savvy is aided by our failure to teach logical thinking skills, which come about from studying history, civics, literature, math, and science.

• Failing to teach literature has begotten ignorance of human nature, naïveté, insularity, and inability to understand the implications of human behavior on the national and local scenes. That failing also has contributed to the mess our country is in right now.

• Failing to teach language has created a lamentable insularity and provincialism among voters, consumers, and leaders alike — making our people vulnerable to the deception and scheming of our enemies and cutting us off from real ability to appreciate the cultures of other nations.

• And while we’re at it, failure to teach basic, solid science has brought us the wacky and dangerous anti-vaxxer movement. To say nothing of all the other woo-woo around us.

{sigh} Is there any question as to why one in ten of the drivers in the oncoming lanes is a moron, and one in ten in the lanes going in your direction is a moron? And how we got a moron in the White House?

* You think I exaggerate? One day I asked a classroom of university juniors and seniors what were the most significant events of the 19th century in America. Not a single one of them came up with “emancipation of the slaves.”