Hi Islandofapples,
This is a topic a love, so can go on forever about it - I tried not to... but I couldn't help it... Please don't feel obliged to read it all...
I am certainly not naive enough to think that democracy can ever really be fully functional, but but because something isn't 100% achievable doesn't make it not a worthwhile goal (for example we don't stop trying to improve the health of the community - or even an individual - even though we can never have everyone 100% healthy).
I agree that realistically people's lives get in the way of participating in society in an informed way. Before I had my daughter I read 4 newspapers a day. I was so excited to go on maternity leave because I figured I'd just spend my days bouncing my baby on my knee while I caught up on world events. The reality was I barely picked up a newspaper for 3 years! But it's an easy habit to get out of, which makes a strong media and school system all the more important - because if you're not looking for information it's all the more important that the information you do stumble across is impartial and accurate.
From what I understand we are more educated than ever before and I agree with you that this isn't turning out people who think critically etc. But I think that that is in part because we're not invited to participate in the world as we once were. Don't get me wrong, I love social media and think there many great benefits to it (this board for one), but something is lost in debate and analysis when you can be 'politically active' but hitting a 'like' button on your Facebook page because the gist of it sounds alright. We don't have to use our education in any way.
The head of a major bank here recently came out saying he was concerned about the future of the banking industry because highly educated graduates were coming in on huge salaries without the capacity to analyse the broader implications of their decisions (and obviously he's not alone in his concerns given some of the analysis of the GFC). To me this is where education for the sake of it comes in - to encourage that questioning, that critical thinking. For me an acceptance of education in part promotes being curious about the world and not take what you're told at face value. So even if you're not reading 4 newspapers a day or actively educating yourself, you're still open to ideas and aware there is more than one side to any story.
But for that to be socially acceptable education needs to be valued as more than a means to an end. Which is why I have a strong belief in the importance of the humanities. Today, I feel, education has been reduced in many ways to a competition that has little to do with learning. Which means that once you've got what you need to get the position you aspire to, you stop. You switch on American Idol. You absorb the drip feed of subjective news your exposed to from the bits you see on TV, the headlines you skim and so on.
In terms of where that attitudes to participation come from, I think it's about social norms rather than anything else. Here in Australia we have had a history of working class political acivitism, in fact it forms part of our national identity and mythology - a nation of battlers. But now we've got 'battlers' on 150k a year upset because that's the point that government subsidies drop off. We had a Prime Minister ousted from the job in part because of a concerted effort by some of our wealthiest private mine owners to stop a resource tax which would have stood to benefit smaller miners and the nation as a whole. They played the battler card, and the nation's real battlers rallied to the cause - fed by the monopolized media and a lack of understanding about the realities of the situation. To support the tax in the wider community would have had you labeled as unAustralian (and in fact you were told so during the ads produced by the miners that were on while you watched Australian Idol!)
In my view unless education increases in perceived value for it's own sake, not much will change.
Last edited by Giftodd; 08/04/11 11:23 PM.
