Every word in the English lexicon has its definition and purpose. Although quite a few of words are unique in structure, a vast majority are synonyms of one another. One such word that does not follow this pattern is ignorance. Ignorance has such a negative connotation that being labeled as such could induce isolationism and mental damage. According to Dictionary.com, ignorance is defined as the “lack of knowledge” (“Ignorance”). However, this definition, like thousands of others, is insufficient—especially in consideration of modern standards.While this statement may have been valid approximately two hundred years ago, currently this definition is too narrow. As a result, to have a more relevant and accurate denotation in changing times, politicians …show more content…
Under these circumstances, the old definition may claim these children as ignorant. Nevertheless, ignorance is not synonymous with being naive. Children are more efficient and enthusiastic about learning than any adult. This ability to learn rapidly is all thanks in part to their prefrontal cortex, which “gives them the ability to be flexible and inventive. Kids have minds that are designed to learn, and adults have minds designed to perform” (Muftau). It is this ability to learn, combined with their innate curiosity of the world, which differentiates the youth from being ignorant like countless adults. Although some may say that the children of today are lazy and unmotivated, one must also recognize that today’s standards for adolescents are higher than before due to the advancement of technology. This current society is also more dependent on self-discovery than it previously was as well. Consequently, an individual realizes one of two potential outcomes: either one decides they have learned all they will ever need to know and stay stagnant, or they continuously search for the answers to their questions. While knowledge and wisdom are truly fleeting things, one’s perception of this topic is, to a large extent, influenced by other people and ideas. Their perception of ignorance can then either have a robust negative or positive impact on the host. According to Psychology Today, “In fact, one reason why people maintain erroneous beliefs about themselves is that their friends and relatives enable it”(Alicke). Although in certain situations, this belief is accurate, that is not the case for the most part. Ignorance is similar to a human’s natural instincts as they exist to protect people from emotional damage. Ignoring the obviously detrimental obstacles in one’s life is what
“The Dumbest Generation” is a title no group of people want to behold. Nonetheless, people under age thirty have been given this belittling title. To those who go off questions about obsolete general knowledge rather than the ability to take in and evaluate knowledge, this title may seem quite fitting. However, Millennials aren’t quite as dull as they’ve been perceived to be. The ability of Millennials to absorb information, rather than know general facts, and their use of contemporary technology as reading and writing resources has proven that they are quite an innovative and bright generation.
Bauerlein begins his piece by asserting that “digital diversions,” which is anything technological that distracts the younger generation from finer past times, are in fact cutting the younger generation off from culturally enhancing mediums and is in turn making the teenagers less intelligent. Bauerlein continues to claim that it is the responsibility of adults to guide the younger generation towards meaningful topics. The author adds that teenagers live life minute to minute and because of that suggests that the younger generation is not concerned with the past. Bauerlein states that because of technological advances, including cell phones teenagers are in constant contact with each other. The author states that this constant contact with peers makes it very difficult for adults in the younger generation’s life to guide them toward cultural topics. Bauerlein then adds that if the younger generation continues to indulge in “digital diversions” and is not guided by adults to finer pastimes by the time they are in college they will never take part in high culture. Bauerlein concludes that “digital diversions” and lack of adult guidance will result in a less intelligent generation.
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s purpose in his article is to persuade the reader that children should not be force fed knowledge but should instead simply be taught the tool with which to learn. He emphasizes that children should be taught to be inquisitive and to seek knowledge out of enthusiasm and curiosity. One thing Emerson does that is effective is he goes chronologically through a person's lifetime for the most part. A young child and works his way to a college student and then touches on the teacher himself or a grown man.
The way the mind works is through a set of processes, which are steps that must be taken in order for the function it is producing to be accomplished successfully. These processes are related to those that society must be willing to take in order to achieve a desired goal, otherwise known as the ‘struggle’. Younger generations, called Generation Me, develop narcissist views that did not allow for the ‘struggle’ to be considered in their generation. The basis for this mindset is introduced by author Jean Twenge in her essay, “An Army of One: Me”, as she described the gap that occurred between Baby Boomer parents and their GenMe children. This communication was severed because GenMe was taught that their ideas are the best, and therefore not debatable. This translates to differences in opinion and results in individualism. When those individuals do not work together, as demonstrated by Deborah Tannen, author of “The Roots of Debate in Education and The Hope of Dialogue”, they tend to have a weak sense of debate because they stick up for themselves. As a diagnosis to this problem of disconnectedness, Nicholas Carr, author of “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” decides that our society has begun to skip steps in the process of learning and in particular, the ‘struggle’ that produces the desired outcome. The disconnectedness that has developed in society has caused the loss of real learning, and the problem based on the generation gap introduced by Twenge altered the struggle that is necessary to accomplish, which Tannen believes in and where Carr determines real learning can occur.
Let me reference the Alcoff’s section on “situated knowers".She refers to chapters by Code, Harding, and Mills, within her proposal of three focus points for analyzing methods in which ignorance is produced. The first method involves individual situated knowers, the second is by group identities, and the third is via larger systems (Alcoff 2007, p. 40). The before mentioned micro to macro spectrum is heightened by Code’s formation of ecology of ignorance maintained by “webs of distortion and error” (Code 2007, p. 214) which proposes active correlation between agnotological positions. There is not absolute correlation amongst comprehension construction practices and inverse agnotological practices. I would not propose ecology of ignorance is consistent with Code’s grander concept of knowledge construction within Ecological Thinking (Code 2006). When I am pulled to discover the foundations of something I would describe it as “situated ignorances,” which would describe, the opposite of Code’s epist...
Salyers, Fran, and Carol McKee. "The Young Adolescent Learner." Www.learner.org, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .
Throughout the history of mankind there have been numerous cases in which people were victims of oppression or hate. Among these cases the sole reasoning behind this oppression or hate being based on the perception of others. History has shown that society is responsible for labeling groups of people, generally these labels are misleading.
Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. People are so set on their ideas they set in the past, that they do not want to face the present or future. People that are racist and prejudice are ignorant. Ignorance is passed on and spread, therefore there will always be a person in America who are ignorant, and we will never achieve racial equality. Martin
Schwartz, S. (2006) The arrogance of ignorance:Hidden away, out of sight and out of mind. Retrieved November 18, 2011, from http://nativevillage.org
On the contrary, it was often as good as many adult scientists. However, children’s limited life experience meant that they had not assembled and processed enough information about the natural and social world to come to the same conclusions that adults do. But Piaget concludes that children should not be oppressed with more facts at an early age, he believed the opposite. That such oppression would condition children to expect the answers to come from outside themselves, robbing them of their creativity. He also believed that adults must use caution about correcting children’s “mistaken notions.” If done too harshly, or in a patronizing manner, such correcting shames them into intellectual passivity, causing them to abandon their innate urge to figure things out for themselves and to come up with new and creative
In today’s society many technological advances have contributed to advanced communication. While these are advantageous and can improve communication across the globe, they have become a hindrance to critical thinking. With the advancement of technology throughout the world human beings are able to think less while still “functioning.” Literacy is thrown to the wayside and texting “lingo” runs rampant. Why read a book when you can watch the movie? Students are becoming less interested in language, reading, and writing and more involved with surfing the web for answers. This shift in the value of literacy opens the world up to many dangers that if not confronted and demolished could lead to a society unable to think for themselves.
Education is an ongoing process; remains through all the stages of life. Knowledge is deep-sea and one can never claim to have acquired all of it. Sim...
...ed that children's thinking does not develop entirely smoothly: instead, there are certain points at which it "takes off" and moves into completely new areas and capabilities. He saw these transitions as taking place at about 18 months, 7 years and 11 or 12 years. This has been taken to mean that before these ages children are not capable (no matter how bright) of understanding things in certain ways, and has been used as the basis for scheduling the school curriculum. Whether or not should be the case is a different matter”.
Nowadays, there is a wide spread concern about what true education should be. Should we fill information into students’ mind, or should we give them freedom to think to study? In this modern developing society, students are more enthusiastic to learn freely and creatively. Kie Ho (2007) in his essay entitled, “We Should Cherish Our Children Freedom to Think,” delivers an extraordinary message- as expressed by the title. His message is that the schools and parents should teach students how to develop their creativities rather than trying to seal their heads with knowledge. I agree with Kie Ho because the true education for students is to be creative and to think freely at school with the progress of the society.
The ability for children to discover is innate. From birth children discover all sorts of different things about the world around them. It has even been said that "babies are as good at discovery as the smartest adult" (Gopnik, 2005). Discovering is the natural way that children learn. By interacting with the world around them, they ar...