Quote:I believe that it goes deeper than that.  Technology starting in perhaps the late 1980's along with poor education has generally made people more "ignorant".  In general, most people aren't taught to think for themselves, they are taught to memorize.  They are also "taught" that there is only one correct way to come up with a solution to a problem.  Math is a very good example of that.  When adding up say five 3 digit numbers manually we are taught to add up all of the one's then carry over the extra digits to the 10's and so forth to come up with the answer.  However, a different method can be used to come up with the correct answer by adding up the 100's first, then the 10's and finally the one's.  Both ways will still give the correct answer, but the second method is considered "wrong" in grade school when taking a test where you have to show your work.

 

Many people, particularly the younger generations are dependent technology such as google or a calculator application on their smart phones, or what the computer that has become cash registers tell them.  There are scores of people that couldn't actually run business transactions handling money and making change without technology.

 

Now expand that example on a greater scale where you have technology and media constantly displayed in front of you.  News websites, blogs, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter put content in front of people at a very rapid pace, and people believe whatever they see without doing the actual research.  The technology is carried around in our pockets in the form of smart phones, or on tablets, laptops, desktop computers or on our TV.

 

There was a saying that I heard a long time ago from a marketing professional that rings true to this very day and can be expressed as a math equation.  "Successful Advertising = ((what you say x how many times you say it) x (who you say it to))".  Think about that.

I am not even sure they memorize anymore, at least not anything difficult. There is nothing wrong with memorizing some things, it's good for your brain. I remember having to memorize and recite the prologue from the Canterbury Tales (in middle english). It was a rewarding experience and I am glad I did it. 

 

Education is a whole new can of worms though. The simple solution is to blame the schools, and that makes sense. I've said it before though, education is downstream from culture. If you have a culture that promotes sloth and dysfunction, the schools will be filled with lazy and dysfunctional kids. So many things start at home. 

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