… is from page 27 of the late Hans Rosling’s 2018 book, Factfulness:
My students were dedicated, globally aware young people who wanted to make the world a better place. I was shocked by their blunt ignorance of the most basic facts about the world.
DBx: Alas, so much of so-called ‘higher education’ today seems to be designed to keep students ignorant about the world. College students are taught, in effect, to revert to the mental processes they used in second grade. “He called me a bad name! I’m telling the teacher!” “She uses naughty words! I’m telling the teacher!” “They won’t share! I’m telling the teacher!” “THAT’S NOT FAIR!! I’m telling my mommy!”
Emoting is highly valued; reason is discounted. Evaluation too seldom penetrates beyond superficialities such as skin color, sexual preferences, sex, current income status. The world is presented to students as if it is a cartoon featuring good versus evil. Ignored are trade-offs, complexities, nuances, and honest and innocent disagreement. Students are taught that the world is a relatively simple place, a place that must be consciously run. (The notion of society as a spontaneous order is almost never taught; most academics deny the reality of spontaneous order.) If the world is run by good people who express lovely intentions, then (the ‘thinking’ goes) the world will be a good place. But if run by bad people, the world will be a bad place. And who are bad people? Answer: those who do not express the same good intentions that are expressed by the good people.
And all that many college students ‘feel’ they need to know is that which is told to them by their good professors – that is, the professors who excel at expressing excellent intentions.
