What's NOT common knowledge anymore...

[Carrie12345]

Well, I think you're hitting on an interesting issue, which is that we've moved as a society toward mocking intellectual pursuits as somehow unworthy. People frankly scoff at the idea of liking topics perceived as school-related.

 

I've been mulling it over in my head for years, and I think it's partially a commercially driven message. More importantly, though, we've moved from a situation in which pioneers struggled to make sure an education was *available* to their children, to a nationwide system of ever-more-extensive compulsory school attendance. I think it's led people to be disenfranchised with education as a whole, except insofar as it may benefit their earning potential.

:iagree:

Where I used to live, people seemed to be pretty smart, in a normal bell curve sort of way. I think I was right smack-dab in the middle of the curve. I was able to put my foot in my mouth fairly regularly without looking like the village idiot.

 

Here, people get uppity with me when I try to get corrections made to newsletters or signs or other community things. If I point out logical/technical/logistical reasons why certain rules are made or activities can't be held, people act offended. I have heard, more than once, "Well I just can't learn things like that."

 

I think it's interesting (and sad) that there is so much reverse snobbery. I am no smarty pants. I just find it important to understand things that directly impact my life and think about new things I stumble upon. Some people think that's a bad thing.

 

There are plenty of things I don't know that might be common knowledge to others. I don't always run around seeking new information, but I'll look into whatever crosses my path.

 

Sukkot- I had no clue, even with Jewish family members. In fact, I was always under the impression that nobody could *be* a Jew unless their mother was. That's because I was only ever exposed to one branch of Judaism. When I met a few converts, I learned more.

 

Independence Day, otoh, is something I would most definitely expect any American over the age of 4 to understand, and I don't think I could hold back from being extremely snotty toward someone who thought it was nothing more than a day to barbecue.

 

Most of our basic knowledge is based on experience. Some people just haven't had much experience, by circumstance or choice. The people who don't *want to experience anything outside of their bubble do kind of annoy me.:tongue_smilie:

[PinkTulip]

We recently started going to a new church, and some of the children's group leaders came to visit and introduce themselves to my kids. When they asked the kids to each say something about themselves, my 7 yo ds said, "I'm a voracious reader who likes to cogitate!" (He's a huge Wordly-Wise fan). The ladies said, "you like to what?" I told them what he said, and they all said, "I've never heard of that word before. Is it like cognate? What does it mean?" They were completely serious - 40+ somethings who had never heard of the word cogitate, and didn't know what it means. One was even a former public school teacher. I was pretty suprised, and can only imagine what kind of impression they left with of my family.

[hillfarm]

I think the discord comes when someone does not know something that we think they should know. For example, a few years ago 6yo dd and I visited a Lewis and Clark reenactment site. They were doing tours and presentations for ps groups so we just tagged along as our interests led us. At the music station, the speaker asked who wrote the Star Spangled Banner. No answers. Several ps teachers giggled sheepishly in the back row of the group but said they didn't know either. Dd tugged my sleeve and whispered the author to me, a little too imtimidated to shout it out among all the 5th graders present. I nodded and just let her keep the answer to herself.

 

I was a little surprised the the teachers didn't know. I was totally shocked when leaving the area I overheard one of the teachers saying, "I can't believe I don't know that and I am a history teacher...!". I was a little dismayed that perhaps a math teacher might not know, but a history teacher?????:001_huh:

[Jean in Newcastle]

I am often surprised at the lack of knowledge that people have but I'm also often surprised at those things that are "on the tip of my mind" but I just can't recall. So if I use a word that someone doesn't know or make a literary or cultural reference that someone doesn't know then I just tell them what it means. And if I need to ask then I pray that someone will do the same for me.

[Nicole M]

Maybe 15 years ago a bunch of friends/family were at my MIL's house making some plans. A few of us agreed upon Dec 7th for whatever we were going to do - no memory what it was, just the date - and as word spread through the group, several remarked "oh, Pearl Harbor Day."

 

One friend, who is just a few years older than me, became more and more perplexed and eventually asked, "how do you guys all know that??"

 

So I guess important war dates of the early 20th century can go on the list.

 

About war dates, though... I once asked my mother a question about Vietnam, and she was surprised I didn't know. She thought a moment, then said, "Well, you aren't old enough to remember, and it wasn't history yet by the time you got to school. Same with me and WWII." She was born in 1942, and I was born in '67. I think with war dates, your knowledge can be skewed a little based on when you were born. Don't know if that was the case with your friend, however.

[Gretchen in NJ]

Yep, It's a lack of cultural literacy. Reason number 34526 that I homeschool.

Are you sure? I thought it was reason number 34567.:lol:

[mcconnellboys]

I don't know, I forgot....

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

 

I think Losing our Language and The Dumbest Generation both touch on this problem. Are we evolving, or regressing? I vote number two....

[gardening momma]

Is it any wonder when we go to the dentist and they talk to my dd6 about "sugar bugs" instead of germs and cavities?

At our dentist's office the hygenist talked to my dd about "sugar bumps", which needed to be removed/scraped off. It's much easier for a young child to understand that, and then move on to the more "technical" terms.

[gardening momma]

Last week as the school where I work part time I was talking about the two Cubans who left the Cuban national soccer team when they hit US soil for the recent World Cup qualifier. One man recounted running from the hotel in the newspaper. The other teacher, who is in charge, said to me and the class, "well, I'm sure those men will be deported". The woman is finishing her PhD. I think I was aware of US policy with Cubans when I was in 5th grade. At this point, I explained that that would not happen. Some of the kids knew she was wrong. Then we had a discussion of our current "wet foot, dry foot" policy.

I don't know what the policy is...and no idea what "wet foot, dry foot" means. I also wouldn't expect someone who is getting their PhD to know everything there is to know, since no one is ever required to take all of the classes a college offers.

[woolybear]

I'm jumping in late here and have not read every post, so forgive my if I'm repeating something, but.....I am shocked that there are Americans who do not know why we celebrate the Fourth of July. I would think that would be covered in every public school. That is just bizarre and amazing to me that there could be people who don't know.

[Perry]

I agree- I think "sugar bugs" is actually a pretty good term when teaching children about dental hygiene. It helps them make the association between germs and sugar, which would be lost if you simply used the word "bacteria". I also recognize that the dentist is more concerned with educating about health than building vocabulary. Of course, I hope at at some point they transition to more technical terms but I don't see any benefit to it when talking to a 5 year old.

[Peela]

How can I say this without sounding snarky, but I really am sensing a bit of literary arrogance in this thread. First, I'm wondering why it came up in a conversation. I can honestly say that I could live my life and in a conversation with friends or family never utter the words Pax Romana, eruption of Vesuvius and Feast of Sukkut.

 

I would not be surprised in the least to hear others don't know these terms. But, why would I want them to know? I don't respect my peers/friends/family less for not being able to discuss the merits/detractors of a Marxist society. Heck, I'm thrilled that my neighbor knows how to repair a well pump..can grow an amazing garden...taught me how to repair my broken water pipes....or how my grandmother knows how to crochet everything under the sun, knows every little trick to have the most beautiful flowers from just seed she collects each year, or how the man who trims my horse's feet can have a natural ability to whisper to an abused horse in such a way that brings about trust when dozens prior to him had no clue how to calm the horse...I really don't care that the folks brought into my life don't know Pax Romana, but I sure am blessed that they have wisdom in areas I know little of.

 

Tara

 

I like your perspective.

Many people do have gifts in different areas.

 

However I am not sure that many kids nowadays grow up with much more than a rudimentary idea of history and culture beyond their own, if that, and awesome computer gaming skills. My feeling is that in many ways, apart from the homeschooling movement and certain progressive schools, the general trend is to mass produce kids for jobs, not educate people for a rich life. So education has become narrow and bland and childhood is a place to prepare for the big world of adult work, where millions live in stuffy offices shuffling paper for 40 years, as if that's something to look forward to. Yuk.

That's what attracted me to Classical Education- education for a rich life. Thankyou SWB for bringing it to the masses, so to speak.

But it is of course not the only way to get an education, and not the only education worth having. I often wish I was brought up in a tribal culture which kept me in harmony with nature so I didn't have to undo my conditioning and learn basic things like what the names of the plants in my area are, and how to live in community. I could have handled being unschooled, too, and following my interests. I would have learned more than i did at school, and I went to a good, fairly classical school.

Our values are screwed up and general knowledge is probably going through quite a transformation as the world goes through big changes.

[Rosie_0801]

I'm jumping in late here and have not read every post, so forgive my if I'm repeating something, but.....I am shocked that there are Americans who do not know why we celebrate the Fourth of July. I would think that would be covered in every public school. That is just bizarre and amazing to me that there could be people who don't know.

 

I'm particularly shocked, since I knew that and I'm an Aussie who has no need to!

 

I'm always getting into trouble for looking at people as though they are stupid if they don't know something I know. It's actually not elitism, because I'm quite average and assume that if I know something, everyone else must know it too!

 

A dear friend of ours was completely shocked when teaching year 11 and 12 to find out that not only did most of them not know which side of WW2 France was on, but most hadn't heard of the Beatles! How can that be?

 

Ah well,

Rosie