Where has all the knowledge gone?

Today, even amongst many colleagues (mainly the younger ones), I am considered ‘weird’ in that I can recall items of ‘trivia’ (for ‘trivia’ read ‘general knowledge’) that was common knowledge when I was younger. I heard an interview with Steve Allen in 1998 where he was speaking about his book ‘DUMPTH©’. He explained that as width is to wide, Dumpth is to Dumb. He referred to what was then occurring in the United States of America as, “the ‘dumbing’ down of America”. Where basic knowledge, information and skills were being lost. From what was considered the very basic and simple skills, such as reading, writing and maths, to the tragic loss of a wider general knowledge, particularly history.

Much of which information is being lost amongst the general population in many parts of society. There seems to be massive knowledge drain, or intelligence loss throughout the world today, particularly in the technically and financially ‘advanced’ countries of the West. I often argue it is a social laziness, which drives this loss to ever greater and wider affect in our education system and then into the ongoing affect on our society. While we have access to technically advanced equipment it appears we have begun to rely more on the equipment than using it simply as an assistance tool. There is serious fault with that. Recently I was asked why I maintain such a large personal library of books (actual physical ones, on shelves) when everything is available on the internet. As I pointed out in a very quick demonstration, the disadvantage with the internet is knowing what is there, where it came from and how to find a single specific fact among the many thousands of pages of data, personal quotes, paid priority information (where a company pays the server to prioritise their listings in searches, yes, it does happen) and advertisements. In just a short 19 years (which is how long the World Wide Web has been available to the general population - circa 2012) the western society has lost probably a good half of what was general knowledge as taught in the schools. It is frightening. It is possibly more frightening that with this technology, many have become solely reliant on electrical power.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to tell a group of students attending a high school in Australia today, “You must write an essay about the Eureka Stockade (a significant event in Australian history, for this example)…. with a pen!” And imagine saying that all spelling must be correct and to help you along, there will be a power cut for the next week. Oh the cries of shock and horror that would probably resound. “How are we meant to get information if we can’t use the internet?” would probably be the first scream of woe. Let’s reintroduce them to the library? Let’s learn a little about research again and cross-referencing, not just pulling up the first page of the internet (probably among the 18000 hits that usually turn up). Lets learn information as we used to. Oh, but first lets get back to teaching the young to read and write…. And add.

(continued tomorrow)