My People Perish for a Lack of Knowledge

Shouldn't a fundamental set of knowledge - a sort of Canon - be learned by everyone?

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Or something like that. I think the original in Isaiah 5:13 was, "are destroyed", rather than, "perish". The meaning is the same. I can't help thinking a lot of people these days don't have enough knowledge to know they're perishing for lack of knowledge.

The destroying part goes on unnoticed.

In times of old - like twenty or thirty years ago - knowledge was held in esteem. Now it's not nearly as important as going viral on Tik-Tok.

Youths interviewed on TV seem indifferent to their appalling ignorance. They make wild guesses in answer to vaudevillian questions like, "What Country is the Queen of England Queen of"? They're not embarrassed by the silly guesses they make. They laugh, as if saying, "Who cares, anyway".

Maybe I'm too harsh on the kids. Groucho Marx did befuddle a few of his guests in the '50s by asking, "Who's buried in Grant's tomb"? Maybe stupidity is timeless. Even so, I don't think it's ever been as fashionably acceptable as now.

Shouldn't a fundamental set of knowledge - a sort of Canon - be learned by everyone? If so, how much, and what knowledge, should be included in a fundamental Canon?

That question has guided curricula planning from Plato unto Medieval Times.

There were two sets of curricula in the Medieval Canon: The Trivium and the Quadrivium.

The Trivium taught Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric.

Quadrivium taught Arithmetic, Astronomy, Music, and Geometry.

The purpose of the Trivium was to prepare students for the Quadrivium.

Grammar was needed to learn the tools of language. Logic was needed to form coherent thought. Rhetoric was needed to make intelligible argument. All three were needed to turn empty heads into heads capable of productive inquiry.

The purpose of the Quadrivium was to prepare students for the world - with knowledge that would enable them to live their adult lives wisely and well.

Arithmetic turned numbers into tools. Astronomy humbled certainty with the enormity of the unknown. Music wed intellect to aesthetic pleasure. Geometry demonstrated the correspondence between number and shape.

The function of the Medieval Canon was to prepare students for a lifetime of learning.

I'm not sure what function the modern Canon aspires to.

I'm not sure there is a modern Canon. I'm not sure the notion of a necessary minimum of studies, a Canon, is even considered.

I was fortunate be schooled when there still was a Canon, though I didn't learn the word until later. Schools across the nation were agreed upon certain mandatory subjects: Reading. Writing, Arithmetic, History, Geography, and Civics.

Except for civics those subjects are still taught, here and there, but not much. Sometimes they're referenced, but only as sidebar to the really important stuff like, Systemic White Racism, LGBTQ+ Studies, Global Warming, American Imperialism, and so on.

There's only so many hours in any school day, socially relevant topics must necessary crowd-out those stuffy studies from years ago.

I suppose some alumni of current educational theology are the young people interviewed on TV who have no idea what Country the Queen of England is Queen of.

Knowing facts is so boring. Isn't imagination more interesting?

Maybe I've got it wrong. Maybe my people aren't perishing from lack of knowledge.

Maybe they're perishing from lack of good sense.

By K. L. Shipley

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