Category: Culture
Filters
How one views the world depends on the set of filters screening information, emotion, education, and the imagination. Some of us are better than others at recognizing the filters we use and can, for moments, remove a filter to allow the light of Truth into the mind. That is what I like about John Stewart. His show has evolved into a filter removal system for the country through the use of humor the same way Cronkite’s twenty-two minutes did with the actual reporting of facts which is what the “news” once was.
My filter on the “news” is MSNBC. More often than not they get it, mostly, down the middle with the hard news and their “opinion” shows do a better job with the facts than does Fox news. (My opinion of course). One of my brother-in-laws is on the other side of the political divide from me. His filter on the “news” is Fox News. I think Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, the morning Fox show, and most of what they do at Fox News is designed to keep working class to poor white people anxious and angry. I think my brother-in-law would characterize MSNBC as elite, politically correct, overly educated people that have never had to do a hard day’s work in their lives. And so goes the divide in this country as well as the governor’s race here in Virginia that will mercifully end tomorrow.
Enter my favorite filter removing device, The Daily Show. (A side note that Fake Sharon on twitter was a filter removing device at General Assembly.) Though John’s people manipulated construction of the clip, they did take Fox News at face-value and reported the news “fair and balanced” so the viewer could decide. Click here to enjoy the bit titled, For Fox Sake.
Teaching Issues
I read Paul Krugman’s column in the New York Times. This week’s thoughts were on education in America. One of the changes in our culture, during my lifetime, is the notion that education leads to better opportunities. I was an average student. Some days I applied myself and could score A’s on assignments, but other days sports or social life lured me away from the books or library. Short-term memory work is not my strength, but I do remember what I take the time to read. I would call my learning style a blend of visual and auditory. If history lessons would have been movies without author bias, I would probably know a lot more. Education provided me the critical thinking skills to recognize that no history is without bias. This is what I think young people are missing in education today: critical thinking skills.
My companion teaches at Lynchburg College. Before that she taught aspiring ministers at Lexington Theological Seminary. Her common complaint about both settings is that students could not think critically or write more than simple sentences. Do quality teachers still exist in primary and secondary schools? I am sure they must. But, curriculum changes and social pressure have pushed critical thinking skills aside for short term immersion in information so that students can score well on standardized tests. Did I mention I was a “B” student? When I listen to my companion, other professors, and teachers in public and private schools it is clear to me that fifteen years of “teaching to the test” has caused more harm than helped students learn the skills needed to succeed. That is harsh, but busy does not mean successful, nor does multitasking mean the ability to do quality work. If you can only be successful by someone giving you a study guide, then there is a problem. Is it no surprise that we continue in an age of anti-intellectualism in society and that it has seeped into the Church. This is a sweeping generalization but currently acceptable given our educational system and examples from our politicians that are supposed to be critically thinking about issues that benefit us all.
So, Krugman’s article was interesting as he reflects on, “The Uneducated American.”
“Most people, I suspect, still have in their minds an image of America as the great land of college education, unique in the extent to which higher learning is offered to the population at large. That image used to correspond to reality. But these days young Americans are considerably less likely than young people in many other countries to graduate from college. In fact, we have a college graduation rate that’s slightly below the average across all advanced economies.”