We are living through and experiencing very challenging times. Not because of events and factors which are outside of human control. But because of the way that we currently think.
Much of the problem isn’t even conscious and reflects the reality that a significant proportion of us are not self-aware. Even though many of us would nonetheless insist that we are.
It is a certain truth that we have to know ourselves if we really want to know and understand how life works for others.
There is certainly a good argument to be made that for everyday people whose lives don’t appear to have any impact upon others, that understanding either themselves or others doesn’t matter.
However, this exclusion or any hint of it certainly shouldn’t apply to anyone whose actions can or do have an impact upon any other person’s lives.
Education has failed us. Because we have become culturally obsessed with the idea that academic qualifications are themselves the educational benchmark for life.
We have progressively left swathes of younger generations behind. As it has become fashionable to believe anyone without a degree lacks intelligence and the grounding in life necessary to achieve beyond ‘technical’ roles in the workplace.
Regrettably, a narrative is also being carefully constructed about the arrival and rollout of the latest generations of AI. And anyone looking closely at the direction of travel and what change of the kind that those who will financially benefit from the ownership and control of AI systems in the world that they have crafted intend, may soon find themselves with a very difficult question in mind. Namely, ‘Was the ‘dumbing down’ of the population that many of us already recognise, always part of some strategy or plan?’
It is perfectly reasonable to question any suggestion that there are those amongst us who wish to remove the ability for the masses to think for themselves and to prevent everyone from operating and managing their lives independently.
But don’t you find it odd that in an age where so little can be trusted within the flow of information that heads to us from the moment we wake up, that no establishment voice has championed the idea that teaching critical thinking as an essential part of our educational processes would be a very good thing?
There is a tragedy unfolding around us, either by specific design or just as a consequence of the way that The System we have is steadily destroying humanity itself: Few of us are awake to what is happening. Even though just as many believe that they are.
Of those who understand or question what is becoming obvious in so may ways, there are virtually none who will speak out or stand against the way that The System operates. Because they believe that the benefits that they are gaining by ‘going with it’ far outweigh the perceived disadvantages of rejecting all the things that are hurting us and the people around us. Many of which, are carefully hidden by narratives that even the most aware cannot always see.
Skills for Life are far more important for each and every person than any academic specialism will ever be for only the few who can genuinely achieve academic sense in its truest form. And there will be many more who achieve that success and other successes too, if we ensure that every young person is equipped as best they can be to read, question and understand the world which comes into their view.
Adam Tugwell 