"Reason is God's greatest gift to man." -Sophocles
My mom always said that the most base discussions involve talking about things, one step above that but still very shallow is talking about people, but the richest conversations are those that discuss ideas. The gossip train never enters our discussions. We discuss ideas for hours, seldom coming up for air, and seldom checking our clocks until at least midnight if not 1:00 a.m.
We all walked into bookclub fuming last night, because apparently all of our kids have 80 missing assignments, and we didn't find this out until the last week of the term. Obviously we are not helicopter moms checking grades every twelve hours. Our host was twitching in the corner after her son informed her that afternoon that he had a large science term project due the next day. We spent the next hour discussing how we are the worst moms ever and that our kids are officially ruined and that they are slowly killing us one missing assignment at a time. We all said the same thing, that evening, as we gazed upon the horrors that were our kids grades, "FIGURE IT OUT! I'M GOING TO BOOKCLUB!" Then we left, to vent to one another, so that we don't do something we'll regret.
Our final conversation was a good one. We all chose to read some sort of WWII book this month. I know that seems morbid, but such books seem to breed great discussion, which it absolutely did last night. One friend read a great book that is already on its way to my house, thanks to Amazon Prime. This book discusses the interesting philosophies of Naziism and what Hitler was doing to create "a docile mass" who was completely subservient to the Fuhrer and his destructive government. The book sites some "ominous parallels" between what happened in Nazi Germany and what is happening in our own country. It would be so easy to poo-poo such a notion, but remember, the tactics that Hitler used were very subtle to begin with. Now I'm no extremist. I don't get too heavy into politics. But I do have some concerns.
As we hashed out thoughts and ideas concerning what is happening in our country and society, I came to an epiphany. Are we teaching and allowing the people in this time and in this country to reason for themselves? Will the next generation be able to reason for themselves? I feel like there is the ability to think, and there is the ability to reason. I don't know that those two terms are always synonymous.
I feel like in today's world, we push STEM in our schools, and in our colleges, and in our culture. Science, Technology, Engineering, Math. That's it. It is what is being pushed in all of our schools, because, let's face it, that is where the money is. There is nothing wrong with these subjects. They are valuable. No question about it. Our country seems to be all about creative thinking, problem solving, and innovation, which are all valuable qualities to have. But I am concerned that we place little to no value on the humanities, political sciences, history, literature, philosophy. It would seem that these classes are not being pushed or encouraged. They are treated as fluff classes. But are they really? Is it not crucial for the next generation to be able to look at what is happening in society, to see it for what it really is, to be able to recognize the things that are wrong, and to have the courage to fix them? Is this not just as important as being able to come up with the next piece of cutting edge medical equipment? In fact, is it not more important?
I remember my wise mother telling me she had read a study done after WWII. They wanted to know what made some Germans turn in their Jewish neighbors to the Nazis, and what made others risk their lives and the lives of their families to harbor and protect their Jewish neighbors. Their findings were interesting. They found that those who turned in the Jews came from authoritarian and totalitarian families. They came from homes where you never questioned authority. Those who risked their lives to save the Jews came from families where it was okay to question...even authority.
So when our kids ask us Why? when we are reprimanding them, perhaps our first instinct shouldn't be, "Don't you talk to me that way young lady!" Perhaps when we see our children trying to reason through what is going on in their own little spheres of influence, we should welcome such a thought process.
If the schools aren't providing our kids with enough opportunities to reason, then perhaps we should fill in the gaps. Are our kids having lots of chances to ask themselves, "Is this reality? Is this truth? Is this right? Should someone do something about this?" Are the books they are reading leaving them asking such questions? Are the movies they are watching making them think? I will be cooking dinner and listening to the movie my kids are watching in the other room, and I'll think to myself, "There has been literally no dialogue for the last twenty minutes! I think this movie's whole script could fit on one double spaced page!" This is a problem. Mindless entertainment should be the exception, not the norm. Are we taking our kids to museums, to concerts with complex and moving music, to movies that are sometimes pure dialogue? Do we make them sit down and watch a documentary with us sometimes? Do we require them to take a break from their constant light reading to read something that makes them question, "What would I do in this circumstance?"
What kind of conversations do we have as a family or in our classrooms? Do we look at what is happening in the world, and do we ask our kids, "Is an individual or a group of people being unfairly demonized in this situation? Or is a person or group of people being ignorantly idolized?" Do we stop and look at a philosophy that is being embraced in society, and do we ask our kids or our students, "Is this philosophy based on truth? Is it based on reality? Are there some hidden dangers cleverly disguised in this philosophy? And what are we going to do about it?"
I know that our society is working very hard at having the next generation of great innovators. This is a good thing. But should we not also be working toward having the next generation of sound reasoners? Can we afford to have the next generation become a docile mass?
Are we supporting a government that protects individual liberties for all of its people? Unlike any other country in any other time, this country was founded upon ideas. Are those ideas being protected? Do they still make up the foundation of this beautiful country? Are those liberties still intact so that, in the future, when a generation who has been taught to reason, questions something going on in that country, they will be able to freely voice their concerns? I remain hopeful that those liberties will remain protected.
There is a scripture I have grown to love:
Doctrine and Covenants 93:24- "And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come."
In a time where the virtual world collides constantly with the real world, where the philosophies of men don't always coincide with truth, and where conflicting voices bombard us at the simple swipe of a screen, the power to discern and to see things as they really are will be invaluable. I am working to cultivate this trait in myself and working even harder to cultivate it into the next generation, for they will need it.
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