Inside Panorama

Intellectual Ignorance

I was enlightened by a wise man in class yesterday that there are 4 assets any country possess, the development of which is safeguarded by the respective authorities:

1. Geographical - Protected by the armed forces
2. Economic - Protected by the bankers
3. Political - Protected by the government
2. Intellectual - Protected by the teachers

Think that teachers would ever come in the same sentence as armed forces, bankers, and government? Not Often. But really, think about it. The strength of any organization lies within the employees and their commitment to work; the strength of any country lies within the people and their commitment to a better life. The knowledge of what that better life is and how to get their is disseminated by who? The teachers!

But that's not really the scenario right now. Within the schools of most countries students are encouraged about one thing: GRADES. Most third world countries are better than they were 20 years ago, by way of infrastructure. But the intellect of the people...the public....has gone down. Many may beg to differ to this statement. But then we must delve into the meaning of intellect. What does intellect mean? The most straight forward definition is:

The capacity for rational or intelligent thought

Simple enough. So, does that mean that rational or intelligent thought is proven by getting an A in various subjects? To a certain extent. But what about something like intelligently realizing that littering is wrong because rationally it will be bad for you and those around you? Or that intelligently understanding that crossing a red light is dangerous because rationally nothings going to happen if you get somewhere a minute late and that you might die or be seriously injured in the process?

Simply concepts. Hardly followed. Rarely taught.

So when one says that developing the intellectual resource of a country helps in the country advancing to a better state, one must realize that this also realize that this involves good civic sense and developing a student as a whole, well rounded person.

Children are the hopes and future of a country. Hopes and futures are not built upon A grades. It takes a lot more than that.

posted by Sarah @ 10:53 AM