The Death of Why

I started reading a book called "The Death of Why" on the recommendation of a friend. The book laments the lack of questioning in our society and particularly in our schools. The author thinks that we're in such a frenzy to get information and quick answers to questions that we don't pause to ask and ponder the really difficult questions, the ones that expand our minds, teach us to reason logically, and cause us to question our assumptions and worldview.

I agree with the author's basic premise. I think our school system can't adequately prepare our students to engage in the world by teaching to standardized tests. We teach rote memorization instead of creative inquiry. No Child Left Behind may have sounded like a good idea, but it further entrenched this mentality and tied Federal money to success in standardized tests. It may seem ironic that the more money Congress and our states pour into the educational system, the worse our results seem to get. I think it makes perfect sense, actually. Those dollars come with strings attached and creativity can't flourish in an overly regimented system. It requires freedom. Freedom won't guarantee successful results either, but I think it's much more likely to create the right kind of environment where success can be achieved.

The author also discusses the Internet and the effect that the availability of such massive amounts of information can have. Not knowing what to make of all the information can be overwhelming and may cause us to seek help in processing it by listening to talking heads or reading opinions pieces that interpret the world for us. Rather than making up our own minds, we rely on "experts" to do our thinking for us. We may decide not to bother even attempting to process all that information. One example the author laments when students fall into that trap is, rather than thoughtfully researching a topic, students print off the first few search results that pop up on a certain topic to hand in for a not-so-well-thought-out research paper, allowing Google's business-driven algorithms to do their thinking for them. Advertising wins once again. Being overwhelmed with busywork at school may also be contributing to that seek-the-quick-answer mentality.

All of this reminded me of a scripture in 2 Timothy 3:7: "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Paul claimed this state would exist among men in what he called "the last days" (2 Timothy 3:1). Hmm ... did Paul forsee the Internet?

I work in the wireless communication industry, but here's a glance at some of the potential negative effects of information overload that wireless can help create: http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/it/how-to-beat-information-overload. That article comes from a professional journal in my field. It was refreshing to read that kind of perspective from a peer.

I recently gave up on the book "The Death of Why". I agree with her overall premise, but the book is so full of ideas and philosophies that are so incongruous with my own that I found it too annoying to finish. I try to give every book a chance by reading at least half of it. If, at that point, I just don't find any pleasure in it, I usually give up. I agree with another statement in the book that we should read and expose ourselves to things we don't agree with. But after being exposed to it enough, I reserve the right to save myself a few hours and do something I enjoy. I almost always finish books that I start, but I've quit on a few of them - one of them was from one of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis. I couldn't get through his book "Miracles". He started with some premises I just couldn't agree with and I found myself fighting his arguments the whole way through because they were based on ideas I couldn't accept. Oh well. I've never read a book I completely agree with and sometimes I don't agree with myself from one day to another, but I've learned that life is too short to spend too much of my time doing things I don't enjoy. Life is meant to be happy. And happiness, for me, requires, among other things, that I limit the amount of information that gets thrown at me. Consequently, I try to make sure that such information is uplifting, encouraging, interesting, ... and fun.