One of my professors presented our class with a statistic that put things in an uncomfortable perspective for me. He said that only 19% of the United States has obtained a bachelor’s degree. From my standpoint, I don’t think you can measure intelligence with a college degree and I’m alarmed that anybody would consider themselves part of an elite through education. However, he told us this in response to an issue that occurred at the public forum, “Guns and the Law.” Most of our class was in attendance, and what we chose to discuss this morning was how two members of the audience ‘made a fool of themselves’ during the question and answer session. To clarify, they began talking in circles and started yelling at the panel with nobody able to identify with their argument. This is where the discourse began of organized thought and how most members of the public lack the ability to formulate critical thought. He said that it is our responsibility as the educated elite to utilize our time here and develop our critical thinking skills to participate in the dialogues of the real world.
I think that’s a lot of crap.
I think he meant this to be a contrast, showing his students the opposite of what scholarly perseverance might do. He even went as far as comparing critical thinking to sports, but once he used the word ‘elite,’ I began to disagree with the conversation. Clarity and purpose is something we all strive for, but it can probably be attained in more ways than a bachelor’s degree. In fact, I’m willing to argue that some are able to attain degrees while still lacking the ability process and argue information coherently. If an individual is passionate enough to get in front of a large panel and try to argue their understanding of constitutional interpretations, should we not be obligated to try to help the communication process?
When this happened, I laughed about it. Now thinking about what was lost as he handed one of the sound guys back the microphone, I believe it’s terrible.
Stage Fright 