Teaching the young minds of today how to think should be a paramount pillar of the educational system.
Standardized testing has resulted in a situation where students are more often than not trained to learn what to think — in other words memorize tidbits of information and know how to later regurgitate those facts under the pressure of a timed multiple choice exam.
If a fish were judged solely on its ability to climb trees, it would probably not find much solace in its amazing ability to swiftly swim through the seas.
Not being able to memorize precise dates and names of historical figures or places is not necessarily an indicator of a person's overall intellectual potential.
Far more important than the ability to memorize what in the end often amount to trivial facts anyway, is the ability to not only comprehend and analyse new information but also to question it with the utmost scrutiny. Studies have shown many social media users are quick to share information based on click-bait, shocking and misleading headlines, without even bothering to first read let alone fact-check the content.
Even the general public at large is easily mislead by global mainstream media outlets that are all owned by just a handful of corporations.
However, roughly a couple of hundred high school students from the surrounding area were recently treated to a presentation by independent journalist and author Gwynne Dyer, who through the organizing efforts of social studies teacher Chris Simpson spoke at the Sundre High School.
Dyer drove home the extent to which mainstream media organizations can manipulate public opinion largely through exaggerating certain threats while underplaying others.
Roughly 3,000 people killed on 9/11 in the largest terror attack on the U.S. — and almost none since — was just cause for spending trillions of dollars on a failed war that has only further destabilized the Middle East and fuelled the rise of extremism. Terrorism dominates the global headlines. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Americans have since 9/11 been killed in the rampant, relentless gun rampage that continues to play out in the streets of many cities throughout the U.S.
But as Dyer facetiously pointed out during his presentation to the students, troops have yet to invade and occupy any cities in response to this terrible loss of American life, which eclipses casualties caused by any terrorist actions on U.S. soil.
His presentation provided some sober second thoughts and offered students a perspective they might not otherwise have considered. And that is what education should be all about — engaging minds to consider looking at issues from multiple perspectives before prematurely jumping to conclusions.
So the Sundre High School should be commended for actively taking steps to provide the opportunity for students to scrutinize and analyze mainstream information as well as to think critically.
