My father recently sent me a link to this article on TakiMag.com. It is pretty interesting, hitting some basic topics on competency and how it manifests in the world.It is something that I have thought about before, the fact that people tend to assume they are "average", despite how far below or above they actually are (a truly brilliant academic paper on the subject is available here: Unskilled and Unaware). I have rarely had to interact with "below average" people. On the occasions that I have, it was nearly impossible to have any meaningful interaction whatsoever, but at least it was possible to recognize the situation for what it was and just avoid any clashes or issues before they happened. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who are technically competent and lacking any sense of self motivation. For these "merely average" people who are just phoning it in, it is an extremely frustrating experience. I am tired of struggling with these people; I am sure they are tired of trying to figure out what I am talking about.
The article links to another interesting article. It is quite a bit long, but it takes a rather cold, hard look at education and our assumptions about it. It basically concludes that the most important factor in a child's education is their home environment, all other factors being nearly inconsequential (including the quality of the school environment).
One thing that I think homeschooling did for me and some of my friends was that it allowed us to select our peer group. We were not forced into the same classrooms as 50 other kids, 25 of which never planned to go to college, and 20 of the rest only going to college because it was expected of them. I worry about the one or two students on the edge between "average" and "above average". Does that environment breed an attitude of frustration with education and therefore, by association, learning? Are we wasting too much effort on the bottom 25 that we allow that one student to fall between the cracks? I think it is a convergent issue, that we really need to worry about the one or two details on the cusps, because they will compound on each other and provide exponentially more benefit than the effort they require.
I find myself thinking about a number of loosely interrelated novels from the great sci-fi author Robert A. Heinlein. He had a couple of recurring characters who were all incredibly long-lived humans. They all traced their lineage to one man, a "genetic lottery winner" if you will, who came about through a sort of anti-eugenics program to create very long-lived people. Basically, a secret society was created called the Howard Family, which promised financial stability and security if desirable people participated in a multi-generational selective breeding campaign. Eventually, because the Howards were marginally longer lived than the average human, and marginally smarter than the average human (selection was made on intelligence as well), their advantages compounded to the point that they single-handedly drove human progress for the rest of "future history", and eventually squeezed out mundane humans. It was a really interesting concept, and provided a scope of story telling that went far beyond the "gee whiz" tech speculation typical of sci-fi in the 50's and 60's.
Yet, we are in reality doing essentially the opposite. "Smart, learned" people have children at a much later age than average, and typically have fewer children. They are also disproportionately in support of abortion rights. The consequences are obvious: the stupid people are out-breeding the smart people. Perhaps in a subsistence society, a certain minimum level of intelligence was necessary for survival, but today we have made life far too safe. We have to warn people that razor blades are sharp and coffee is hot. Why do smart people hate children so much? Why do smart people want to hurt the future of the human race?
Back to work, I guess. Maybe my smart friends and I can fashion our own rope for an escape. I hope we do not hang ourselves instead.
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