The liberty principle
for this Freedom Friday concerns the importance of gaining knowledge. We cannot
make good decisions without having enough knowledge to weigh the pros and cons
and the wisdom to use that knowledge wisely. One example of this lack of
knowledge leading to loss of freedom is the many college students in America
who support Senator Bernie Sanders and his socialist ideas. They do not seem to
understand that socialism takes away freedom and replaces it with bondage.
Walter E. Williams, professor of
economics at George Mason University, posted an article titled “The Astonishing Ignorance of Young Adults” at The Daily Signal. Williams gives
numerous examples in his article about how the rising generation is not gaining
the knowledge it needs to be truly free. Here are just two of them.
Williams gives some statistics
taken from the 2006 geographic literacy survey of young people ages 18-24 by
National Geographic and Roper Public Affairs.
“Less than half could identify New York and Ohio on a U.S. map. Sixty
percent could not find Iraq or Saudi Arabia on a map of the Middle East, and
three-quarters could not find Iran or Israel. In fact, 44 percent could not
locate even one of those four countries…. “
“According to a Philadelphia
magazine article, the percentage of college grads who can read and interpret a
food label has fallen from 40 to 30. They are six times likelier to know who
won `American Idol’ than they are to know the name of the speaker of the House.
A high school teacher in California handed out an assignment that required
students to use a ruler. Not a single student knew how.”
There may be more of the rising
generation graduating from high school and/or attending college, but they do
not appear to be gaining the knowledge necessary to be productive citizens. If
we want our children and nation to remain free, we must do more to help our
youth and young adults gain the necessary knowledge to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment