Thursday, November 3, 2016

Knowledge and Freedom

                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.

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