Monday, May 23, 2011

Why Don't We Care?

Note: I wrote this rant a few months ago. I am just now getting 'round to finishing it. Sorry it's been a while since I've posted.

Today, I am going to talk to you about a serious topic.
I know I generally don't do that, but it's something that's been on my mind lately. This is a bit of a rant that I've been dying to write and I finally have time to write about it.
America. It's totally messed up. We all know it except for those who aren't involved with it's problems or those too ignorant to care.

Mostly, my problem with America is the education system. The main reason this is currently on my mind right now is that I am reading this book that is considered really nerdy.

Oh, and reason #2 is one of John Green's most recent vlogbrother videos. Found here.

So, why does reading a nerdy book make me angry about the American education system? Well, the book is The Calculus Diaries by Jennifer Ouellette. And my first problem is, is that when I consider taking it with me to read anywhere I have a little voice in the back of my head saying, "People are going to think you are such a nerd if they see you reading that." Generally, I don't let people see the book.

The fact is, I don't care to a point if people think I'm a nerd, because it really isn't an insult. However, occasionally, I find myself thinking "Okay, this really is very nerdy. Do you really want to deal with people's comments on this?" Therefore I hide whatever nerdy thing it is.

So, the reason this book made me start thinking about this is a couple quotes that Ouellette wrote in her book. The first one is:
"Knowledge is power, and we forfeit that power when we choose to remain willfully ignorant."
It's pretty self explanatory. And makes me wonder why knowledgeable people are looked down upon when they obviously have the higher ground and power.
The second is a little more relevant to the book and goes a little something like this:
"[S]cientists have a valid point when they bemoan the fact that it's socially acceptable in our culture to be utterly ignorant of math, whereas it is a shameful thing to be illiterate."
THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT POINT THAT ALMOST NO ONE REALIZES!!!!!

The world can exist without reading and words. As much as I and a few other people would like to think it can't exist without books and words and writing and literature. It can. There are entire cultures that were created and built upon that had no writing system whatsoever. BUT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO EXIST WITHOUT MATH!
/endrant

All right, so that's where I stopped in the rant. I'm not particularly angry about this topic at the moment, so I won't continue it. However, I think I made my point. I didn't support it extremely well. But it's a rant, so... no support technically needed.

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