[ad_1]
Today I am filled with only pain and anxiety.
And it is not at all because September 1 cannot be arranged as a normal holiday today. This reality of physical limitations only reinforces a drama that is deeper. It somehow physically shows that the celebration is over. There is no more naivety when there was still hope that science and knowledge really cared.
Who cares? Perhaps to politicians and the Government, which (each of the former, not only this one) proclaims and proclaims that education and science are a priority for him? But just as you can’t turn that priority into your own decisions, neither can you. What decisions are there – your own promises cannot take over. Pamenate, 2019 Did teachers protest at the end of the year to keep their promise to increase teacher salaries by 10%? All those public promises have been quietly twisted somewhere; We will not raise it now, but from 2020. September, we will upload it. Guess if that promise will be fulfilled from September? In theory, no one revoked it. In practice, no money was allocated for this. “But we care a lot about education!”, There will be much concern in the congratulations of today’s politicians.
Guess if that promise will be fulfilled from September? In theory, no one revoked it. In practice, no money was allocated for this.
Or is the Minister of Education and Science really concerned about how schools are prepared to teach children? How will it be necessary in practice to implement those mystical requirements regarding distances, the absence of students in school corridors? Or how should those 700 missing teacher positions be filled with real people?
It is not difficult to understand that the Minister of Health did not care; His vacations mattered more to him than planning at least a few scenarios on how to prepare schools for the fall. If there was a special hell for people who took on the role of leaders but only destroyed what they had to defend with their actions, then the current Minister of Education and Science would have to burn in that hell. Burns twice.
But far worse, education and science no longer even care about the students themselves. And, to a large extent, also their teachers. A third of the graduates who failed this year’s math test showed very clearly how much science matters to them. Your teachers are probably similar. That part of the true Masters who are sincerely ill for their children is catastrophically disappearing. There are fewer and fewer good teachers. Even the most prestigious schools find it extremely difficult to find really good teachers. And it won’t be easier. The goal “Teacher: a prestigious profession by 2025”, which has become a joke, is no longer even funny. Just making me sadder.
And what’s worse, society doesn’t need science either. What you don’t need is to hate him. You have to deny it, break it and burn it. Just look at the public comments below any media article on COVID-19 and you will see in its pure form a fragment of that mass ready to deny any scientific fact and argument. Why science for us? After all, all that nonsense with a pandemic is fictitious! There is no coronavirus! 5G is a conspiracy against people! Vaccines are designed to chip! The authorities hide the truth from us because there is no one killed by COVID-19! And none of us saw the round terrain with our own eyes.
But far worse, education and science no longer even care about the students themselves. And, to a large extent, also their teachers.
Sneers of science don’t just listen to scientists and doctors. Nor are they interested in politicians who are still thinking and trying to offer some solutions to problems. But they gladly listen to all kinds of uspaskichs who speak I raised about human vibrations, or the intimidation of blood thinners, how the whole pandemic is designed solely to turn humans into obedient robots.
You and I, who are reading this text, are probably in the same bubble where intelligence is still valued and fans of all conspiracy theories are inevitably ridiculed. My Facebook stream is not without ironic notes about it. Being in a bubble, we are still debating serious things and imagining that there are quite a few smart people. But we are a minority. A very disappeared minority and in danger of extinction. I was lucky, I live among educated and intelligent people. I work at a university where the most talented students enroll. Among them are people of extraordinary intelligence. And I love it every time I meet people who respect science and the knowledge that pursues them.
Being in a bubble, we are still debating serious things and imagining that there are quite a few smart people. But we are a minority. A very disappeared minority and in danger of extinction.
But the reality is ruthless. Here, a survey conducted in June showed that only 47% would receive coronavirus vaccines if they were not mandatory. surveyed. Less than half! And this is not just a uniqueness of Lithuania. In other countries, surveys show the same.
People don’t like science anymore. They no longer like to read, they are not interested or analyzed. You won’t be drawn to a text that takes more than a minute to read. As a result, more and more things are filmed. Oh, but the footage is already too difficult to absorb. So let’s jump better! Or let’s demonstrate some brief nonsense via TikTok. Information transmitted – zero. But millions of followers. Is this how the new generation develops? Will we teach them math with the TikTok dance? We’d rather drop the exams entirely, because you know, here’s a breakdown in personality, stress, and the like. Who are these tests for? Why that knowledge test?
It is important that a personality can boldly express its uniqueness. Even if it’s elementary nonsense.
Here my eighteen-year-old son wrote a book (on political ideologies found on the Internet). He curates several Facebook pages himself, which probably have tens of thousands of followers, and posts memes to them on a daily basis. I ask him: “Maybe many of your followers will want to read your book?” He just laughs, “They don’t read books! Don’t read anything. No!”
If your children are still reading books, congratulations. You are among the chosen. But not necessarily in a good way. The “chosen” who are doomed to be destroyed by the ignorant.
I am increasingly overwhelmed by the realization that the fundamental collapse of civilization will not come from any nuclear war or global warming. Civilization will collapse when humanity stops learning.
I am increasingly overwhelmed by the realization that the fundamental collapse of civilization will not come from any nuclear war or global warming. Civilization will collapse when humanity stops learning. And those who still try will be swept away. Crowds of unscientific, illiterate and conspiracy theorists. Because more of them. Much more and they are more aggressive. They will have no doubt what to do with you / us. This we will be able to reason intellectually and argue politely about what is done here so sensibly that we will not offend or impose our will on anything. Therefore, it is we who will be destroyed.
So this time, I don’t congratulate you on September 1. Because there is nothing to say hello. I can only wish that I didn’t close my bubble and not think that science and progress are guaranteed. We are losing it too fast.
(PS It will turn out to me that I am exaggerating a lot. Perhaps. But it is better to make a mistake in thickening the colors than to close my eyes and not see this threat at all. And I am sorry if I spoil someone’s festive atmosphere).
Dr. Tomas Janeliūnas is a professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University. This text has been published on his Facebook account.
[ad_2]
