It never ceases to amaze me as I converse with people both online and off how little knowledge so many people have about anything.

  Political processes are an excellent example. Over the last 15 or so years I have probably asked a dozen or so younger people (high school and college grads) if they were ever offered anything resembling a civics course during their formal education. Not one of them even knew what a civics class was or what it would cover.

  I had a woman in her fifties working for me for about a year and a half that couldn't name the current vice president of the United States. Or the one who preceded him. She probably watches thirty hours of television a week. None of it news. None of it educational. Rarely if ever reads and if she does it's a cheap romance novel and it takes her two years to get through it.

  Most people that I know don't know why or how the breakdown of Senators/Congressional Representatives works. Or the electoral college. Or the separation of powers in the federal government (what's left of the separation of powers with the new Unitary Executive, that is).

  I used to feel sorry for people. Now I feel more disgusted. Where I live virtually everyone has access to the internet. There is a free public library in every town (and if they don't have what you're looking for they will get it for you from another library). There is information everywhere. People choose instead to watch mindless, noisy entertainment and sports. So many people lack intellectual curiousity. If they don't think they absolutely need to know something (usually to make more money) then they don't want to know it.

  I have been ravenously curious about the world around me all my life. Every book I read introduces me to dozens of new subjects that I then go and research individually. I can't keep up with all the stuff I want to know but what a joy it is trying.

  I try now to associate more and more with other intellectually curious people. They aren't always easy to find but they're worth seeking out.

(Wishing there was a smilie hitting another smilie over the head with a 2x4...j/k )

I too feel the pain of ignorance! here are some smilies that I think will help you express yourself, feel free to snag them!

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/rmissey/smilies/ChairHit.gifhttp://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c137/15_laxgoalie/Smilies/021.gifhttp://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e176/Alchemist_57/CF%20Whatnot/Da%20Smilies/hitoverhead.gifhttp://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g185/rmissey/smilies/HitWall.gif

i never had a civics class, i did take government/economics, but it was taught by a guy who used to work in stocks, we learned about the bill of rights, but we mostly learned about economics.  he was pretty horrible anyways and was fired the year after i had him for dating a student, he was 40.  anyways, i really don't know much about government, i actually just took this quiz http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19552808/ its to see if you could pass a us citizen quiz.  i got a 70%, i guessed on most things.  its horrible how little i know about politics, michael helps me out a lot and answers all of my questions, but i either just dont understand the process, or understand it and forget it by the time i need to use the information again. 

politics really dont interest me, but issues that come up in politics interest me, so i try to understand politics so that i can have a strong stance about particular issues, but there is just so much information to learn to fully understand one issue, its not something that one can just pick up from a couple newspaper stories or magazines, its like trying to understand the make up of the brain along with psychology and sociology just to understand how one person works.  there is the basic framework that one would need to memorize, how everything works internally in the US, thats easy, but then understanding how all of these major countries and states and people and organizations work together.  its so overwhelming.  if i want to learn about darfur, i would need to study their government, their society, their history, along with outside factors that contributed to the crisis, then studying the UN's role, and all of the major countries.  I would have to study how the UN works, how the US works when working with humanitarian issues, how are other countries helping?  then on top of the factual parts is how do people feel about it?  why arent things being done?    its just so overwhelming to understand politics.  ugh.  i do read about these issues in the newspaper or magazine when i can, but i dont feel like i understand it, i feel like i just got an introduction and to really understand it i need to go write a doctoral thesis or something.

my ignorance about politics disappoints me, but i try to remember that i cant be a master at everything, i need to take it in steps.  so right now im working on education and education activism, once i got that pretty solid, i can start looking more indepthly at other things that interest me.  through education activism, i am learning a lot about politics within the realm of education, but its so minuscule really.   im only 23, i have a lot more time to learn these things!

  You're right- there is a lot to learn and you can't learn it all at once.

  I think one of the best ways to learn about the way governments work is to become a student of history. I've always been a big history buff, reading everything from historical biographies to accounts of events in ancient civilization up to the present. You begin to collect all sorts of different information and it gradually fits together like a jigsaw puzzle.

  You can also read up on different forms of government and their origins in any number of books. Once you learn the basic structures of different governmental systems it's not so hard getting familiar with the nuances of how they are applied in different places.

  Obtaining well-rounded knowledge about many things through reading (and some other sources) coupled with some good instruction on how to apply critical thought to what you learn are the building blocks for ever-expanding knowledge. The more you learn the easier it is to learn more as knowledge tends to compound over time.

  I think that much of modern education is too specialized. Having a broad foundational knowledge of many things should come first, that will help you be even better at whatever thing(s) you eventually decide to specialize in.

  By the way, I took that quiz. I aced it.  :D

I'll be the arrogant witch with a capital B which I know myself to be.

I think it boils down to either being of lower intelligence or viewing oneself as being of lower intelligence.  Truly, highly intelligent people have an innate curiosity about the world, how it works and a sense of justice and injustice.  They tend to be acutely aware of the environment and/or politics and/or the suffering of others including animals.  They will literally work to find ways in which to challenge themselves and find the limits, if any, of how much they can learn or do.  It is like an uncontrollable appetite. 

Having said the above, it is a PITA to be highly intelligent.  Nothing is ever quite enough, the more you learn and know the more of a social outcast you are.  Finding other well-read and highly intelligent people to visit with is difficult at best.  A great many of us are torn between the self-gratification of learning and the desire to be the round peg that fits in the round holes of life around us.  Many of us ponder a life so meaningless and so unpretentious that we would enjoy spending our free time watching mindless TV. reading cheap novels and be happy with going absolutely nowhere in life.  The dissatisfaction of always having to have one's brain engaged frequently leads to depression in the gifted, who have higher rates of suicide.

It is sad and it is unkind to say it, but many people do not have the brain capacity to strive to be more than they are.  Luckily, there are quite a few of the highly intelligent around to do the thinking and the unraveling of things their brains cannot.

I'll be the arrogant witch with a capital B which I know myself to be.

I think it boils down to either being of lower intelligence or viewing oneself as being of lower intelligence.  Truly, highly intelligent people have an innate curiosity about the world, how it works and a sense of justice and injustice.  They tend to be acutely aware of the environment and/or politics and/or the suffering of others including animals.  They will literally work to find ways in which to challenge themselves and find the limits, if any, of how much they can learn or do.  It is like an uncontrollable appetite. 

Having said the above, it is a PITA to be highly intelligent.  Nothing is ever quite enough, the more you learn and know the more of a social outcast you are.  Finding other well-read and highly intelligent people to visit with is difficult at best.  A great many of us are torn between the self-gratification of learning and the desire to be the round peg that fits in the round holes of life around us.  Many of us ponder a life so meaningless and so unpretentious that we would enjoy spending our free time watching mindless TV. reading cheap novels and be happy with going absolutely nowhere in life.  The dissatisfaction of always having to have one's brain engaged frequently leads to depression in the gifted, who have higher rates of suicide.

It is sad and it is unkind to say it, but many people do not have the brain capacity to strive to be more than they are.  Luckily, there are quite a few of the highly intelligent around to do the thinking and the unraveling of things their brains cannot.

Wow...that's harsh.  I don't think it has anything to do with being either highly intelligent or of lower intelligence.  I think it has to do with whether people find the subject interesting or it's easy for them to learn.  For myself, languages are very easy to learn, always have been.  I pick them up easily and can converse with people speaking different languages at the same time.  But ask me to do algebra or heaven forbid a story problem and I can't do it.  Math has been difficult for me since +-/* was finished taught.  To pass college algebra I had to start at pre-algebra and work my way up.  Same thing with anything mechanical.  It's not something I can pick up.  Would I consider myself of "lower" intelligence because I can't check the oil in my car or answer some alegbraic equation?  No, because my intellectual strengths lay elsewhere.  I also wouldn't look down on someone because they don't appear to have the same interests or understanding that I do.  People are different and it would be extremely boring if everyone thought/acted the same way.  It would be different if people had equal access to educational opportunities but let's face it we live in the real world and not a dream world.       

A little embarrassed to say this but I don't know a THING about politics....though I have taken civics many years ago in high school. I don't know the difference between political science and law; business and economics. I don't know a thing outside my faculty *hides*

Oh. No.

have you read the peoples history of the united states by howard zinn?  that is a great history book, now that, for some reason, is easier for me to remember, not facts really, but a general understanding of the situations he talks about.  it's mostly the style, but also the peoples history talks a lot about humanitarian issues and how people felt based on their journals instead of a string of facts, i think that helped out a lot!

i like more specialized education, i believe that it helps people to really find what they're passionate about and focus on that, then grow outwards from there.  It seems like there are a lot of people who aren't really passionate about any subject and are just mediocre at a lot of subjects, which is what is taught in our schools: pass all of these classes and then you can get a job instead of find something that you're passionate about, study all aspects of it and other similar subjects and work within that field.  BUT, i am just starting on understanding education better, so we'll see what i think in 5 years.

  I haven't read all of People's History but I have read parts. The thing I like about it is that it gives you a completely different perspective than most of the history texts that have been used in schools over the years. You get to see things more from the perspective of the people who were rolled over as the US pursued its "manifest destiny".

  There's nothing wrong with specialized education. I just think it should follow a general education that provides a person with broad foundational knowledge on many subjects. I think in most cases it is far easier to excel at your specialty when you can draw on a large personal library of knowledge.