The Pitfalls Of Naivety

The Pitfalls Of Naivety

One of the trickiest parts in the pursuit of knowledge is knowing what information to draw upon. What information to take at face value, what to take with a grain of salt, and what to regard as putrid, fascist propaganda with no redeemable value, such as Fox News. To illustrate my point, you simply need to flip through several different newspapers, where you’ll be presented with conflicting reports at each new turn. So which story is telling the truth? How can one know?

You must look at the source of the information. For an example, would you get your information on WWII and the holocaust from a neo-Nazi revisionist? Or, to a lesser extent, information on the economy from a politician running for reelection? If you had any sense at all – and cared about the quality of the information you’re receiving – you would say no to both of the above questions, and look for relatively more truthful sources elsewhere. And that is exactly what we must do.

Yet as children, we didn’t look elsewhere. We never really questioned what our teachers were teaching us. And generally, when I say ‘teacher,’ I’m talking of all the people whom we listened to with bated breath (or at the very least listened to). Because obviously, a lot of our knowledge comes from our parents, peers, and other sources, such as the tv, each with their own subtle way of crafting falsehoods.

Of course, we were young, innocent and impressionable. Why would we question what we were taught in school? These teachers couldn’t have hidden agendas, could they? Why would they? Our pre-adolescent minds could not comprehend. In school, while we were sitting in our history classes, what possible merriment could a teacher have gotten from telling us mis-truths? It would be an odd fellow who got their jollies from that. So then our teachers truly were teaching us the truth, knowledge that would lead to higher education, better lives, ultimately to a more utopian society. Thus, it would be a moot point to watch what we’re taught in school, wouldn’t it?

Yet, I tend to disagree with that line of thinking. Although the teachers might not be purposely deceiving us, the fact remains that we should still watch what we’re taught, especially in the hallowed halls of America’s teaching institutions, because of the fact that no one does question these places of learning. The society we live in, with the morals and prejudices of the day, has a stake in deciding what should be taught, what is to be emphasized and what is to be avoided. And generally, I think it dangerous to let others decide what I should be knowledgeable in.

The subject of history in our schools is an excellent, pertinent example. As our society has changed, so have our textbooks. Whoever it is that decides exactly what to write in our textbooks, they had neglected social issues altogether up until recently. The problems of the poor and unwashed masses were effectively struck from our history. Were these students getting a fair portrayal of the way it was in times past? Was this fractured world history beneficial to the pupils?

Or, for instance, the subject of communism in school. Was communism given a fair representation 30 years ago? Twenty? Ten even? Not particularly. So going through the school system during that time, did the students get a just portrayal of the communist system?

Although did anyone say they should? Or that they would, even? Is there actually any guarantee, any assurance that we would be getting a fair, unbiased education? I don’t recall one. It is just assumed by the masses that there is some type of standard regarding the truthfulness of our education. I think this is a dangerous assumption for us to have.

So now we know that society has a definite impact on the accuracy of what we’re taught. But what else do we have to be on the look out for in school? Perhaps the teachers were influencing our schooling after all.

Perhaps it wasn’t intentional. But can our subconscious feelings not insinuate themselves into our everyday chores and decisions? Think about it. Therefor, according to one’s own prejudices, a schoolteacher might skip over an important topic, while emphasizing another lesser one. It occurred to me that this happens every day in the classrooms, where it’s presumed that a non-biased education is transpiring. Where before a mind was being molded and formed according to the government’s edicts, now the teacher is having a major say.

When this new variable is introduced, the prejudiced teacher, the grand scheme is disrupted. Whereas before there was a carefully structured, government-sponsored plan of indoctrination, now the pupils’ education is at the mercy of a single teacher’s wiles. So now we must watch for this possibility too.

I have indeed experienced this, in my 11th grade U.S. History & Geography class. The teacher for that class? An old conservative woman who spoke at great length about a local horse farm that was owned by the Shah of Egypt or some other similar, albeit ludicrous, falsehood. That should have tipped me off. But I was younger, innocent in the worldly ways of villains. I took her signs of lunacy in stride, thought it amusing even. When we got to reconstruction after the American Civil War, I knew nothing of the topic. So I took her word as the god-given gospel. Yes, it truly was a mistake. But then, one must take into account, it was during my tender years of childhood, two entire summers ago. Ages, if viewed from the perspective of a hamster.

According to this neo-conservative with an agenda, the time immediately following the Civil War was chaotic, and the primary focus was punishing ex-confederate leaders, officers, enlistee’s, and the other people who aided and abetted them. Eventually, those Negro-loving northerners realized the error of their ways, and returned the south to the ways of old, where law and justice prevailed.

Ok, so I’m embellishing her views somewhat. No amount of tenure could counterbalance a viewpoint that direct. But, indirectly, that was the exact message she put across. And the sheep’s lapped it up in great spoonfuls. And that was the end of it. Fortunately, we were never taught anything at great length in that course, besides a last minute rush at the end of the year to pass some state-required exam.

Yet, this very year, I learned otherwise in regards to the reconstruction period after the Civil War. Ex-confederates were not overly mistreated. Many retained their rights of voting and holding office. Blacks were enfranchised, and actually able to use that vote. Many even held offices! This alternate past seemed wholly more believable to me, and I swallowed it whole, hook, line, and sinker.

Now, if you’re an astute reader you might be saying to yourself, “This fool, he is so impressionable, he hears one thing and believes it, and now he hears another and believes this one!” But, although that might be true in part, I don’t think that – or at least I hope not – is the case. I think the entire experience has made me more wary of falsehoods coming from the ones I formerly held so much faith in. Well, so I never held that much faith in any of them, but I believed it when, through the course of a lecture, they spouted facts on topics I knew not of.

Although I am sure I’ll never get the exact truth on a topic that occurred nearly a hundred and fifty years ago, I’m more apt to believe a liberal college professor than some neo-conservative, bordering on offensive, tenured teacher in a republican-controlled school district, since, as a whole, the entire republican, right-wing agenda is primarily furthering business interests and maintaining the status quo. But then again, that’s just the way I feel.

Regardless, this one situation reminded me of how important it is to not take everything we’re told wholesale. While it would be nice to be able to, it would also be naive in the extreme. Then again, some find great happiness in ignorance. So next time you hear a piece of information, think about a couple things before you take it as fact. Think about who the source was, and what possible motives they could have for twisting the real story.