Ignorance

“Ignorance of one’s own ignorance is the malady of the ignorant.”  Montaigne

It has been said that the last couple of generations of Americans are the best educated in our history.  Well, maybe ‘in part.’ But I see some glaring holes in the education of this cohort and even a dangerous mis-education. Our schooling has become unbalanced having purged character education from the curriculum. Having Wikipedia and a massive data bank at hand with our ‘smart phones’ does not automatically make us smart—and certainly not wise. President Theodore Roosevelt sagely observed that “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”

  

The ancient Christian apostle Paul enjoined his hearers  who, “…having the[ir] understanding darkened . . . through the ignorance that is in them” to become “renewed in the spirit of [their] mind.” (Ephesians 4:18, 23)  “For now we see through a glass darkly. . . now I know in part. . . but then shall I know [much more clearly and fully].” (1 Corinthians 13:12) Paul knew that we had much yet to learn. 

As a schoolboy, and even in my undergraduate college work, I would often hear my contemporaries say such things as, ‘I can’t wait to get out of here,’ ‘I will be so glad when this is over,’ and then on graduation day, ‘Finally, it’s over!’  Hmmm, I thought that graduation day was a commencement.  

Of course I, too, occasionally became weary in some classes but, because of a habit of personal reading, knew that I had, like Paul, only just begun.  I looked forward to a continuing education, not just a piece of paper that supposedly qualified me for a job.  I loved going to school and still do.

Even in graduate school I would occasionally hear classmates refer to their ‘terminal degree’ that was just on the horizon.   A terminal degree?  Have they really ‘learned it all?’  Again, ignorance of one’s own ignorance. . . .

“For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:12; also, Ephesians 4:14) Though still ‘in part,’ truth is out there and invites people to learn of it. 

I am grateful for the wisdom of some of the ‘giants’ of my youth who kept my door open to learning:  

·        “Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them at all.”  Henry David Thoreau

·        “Whoso neglects learning in his youth loses the past, and is dead for the future.”  Euripides

·        “Ignorance is not innocence, but sin.”  Robert Browning

·        “An open mind is all very well in its way, but it ought not to be so open that there is no keeping anything in or out of it.  It should be capable of shutting its doors sometimes.”  Samuel Butler [A wise discrimination is part of a ‘good’ education.]

·        “The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”  Mark Twain

·        “If you were graduated yesterday, and have learned nothing today, you will be uneducated tomorrow.” Author unknown. 

Since the “Millennial generation” often reduces all things down to a pursuit of the physical and material I end with this bumper sticker profundity: 

‘If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.’