Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!mtune!codas!killer!usl!usl-pc!jpdres10
From: jpdres10@usl-pc.UUCP (Green Eric Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Knowledge Gap
Message-ID: <518@usl-pc.UUCP>
Date: 20 Dec 87 02:36:12 GMT
References: <8712132230.AA10889@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Organization: Univ. of Southwestern La., Lafayette
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>From: carlos@jplpro.JPL.NASA.GOV (Carlos Carrion)
>	We all are familiar with the concept of a Generation Gap, or
>a Wealth Gap.  But I think that a more ominous concept creeping up on society
>is the idea of a Knowledge Gap of which one could say the Technology Gap
>is but a subset.
>	In these days it is not unusual to find people who can't read, who are
>afraid of technology (even afraid of information), who mistrust technocrats,
>and who resist change.  Precursors to ill-fated movements are fear and mistrust
>and that is exactly what we have.  

I think that what you have "discovered" is the large amount of
anti-intellectualism rampant in recent Western society. In a society
where opportunity for intellectual activity is limited (due to
"passive" entertainments such as TV and rock music), and where, in
many cases, intellectual activity is actively discouraged (elementary
schools, for example, where "control" is the operative word in many
instances), there is a large class of people who are incapable of
deep intellectual thought. The have-nots always seem to resent the
haves, throughout history. So what we have is a large class of people,
all of whom resent anything that looks like it requires an iota of
thought. 
   I have no idea how to change this. In comp.edu, I've recently
posted excerpts from various educational journals, which argue, as
reformers have been arguing for the past 50 years, that we should
change the mission of elementary education. They argue that the view
of child as turkey to stuff and school as "filling station" is
invalid, and that we should attempt to not only instill information,
but the WHY and HOW of the information. Unfortunately, I don't know if
even that would be enough, considering the societial pressures to
conform. For example, a child who spends more time reading Joyce than
listening to Van Halen, Ratt, Whitesnake, and Poison is likely to be
about as popular as a ballet in a redneck bar ("Hey! Get them durn
fairies outta here, we want some MACHO entertainment!").

--
Eric Green  elg@usl.CSNET       P.O. Box 92191, Lafayette, LA 70509
{ihnp4,cbosgd}!killer!elg,      {ut-sally,killer}!usl!elg
  "what exactly is a dream... and what exactly is a joke?"  -- Syd Barrett