“Ignorance is bliss”… until it’s not. The proverb that originated over 350-years ago is surely a truism for youngsters, but becomes less acceptable as we age and try to navigate our way through the real world- ignorance often leads to problems.
Math and reading scores across the U.S. dropped in 2022, while Hawai`i’s scores (for 4th and 8th graders) held their own or increased, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress… even amid pandemic issues. Nice job locally by the kids and teachers, but there’s still a long way to go.
While curriculum dos and don’ts continue to wreak havoc politically across the U.S., there are other areas of concern beyond reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic. History scores for 8th graders plunged, there was a decline in civics, and don’t even ask about economics knowledge, as half of the states, including Hawai’i, don’t push or require it.
Locally, the Hawai`i Council on Economic Education tried (in vain) to get economics ABCs mandated in some form in our schools for decades. According to the national Council for Economic Education, 40% of Americans have less than $300 in savings; just 24% of Millennials demonstrate basic financial literacy; and 50% of America’s youth will earn less than their parents. While it’s not all or always about money, understanding (and then acting upon) basic economic concepts might help us avoid or mitigate the next financial crisis (see the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis, as confusion reigned).
25 states currently mandate that students take an economics course in order to graduate- practical, available, basic knowledge. And learning more about history might encourage more people to become more involved and encourage greater engagement on civics, ethics, and social items. Ignorance and arrogance are not great platforms upon which to run a fruitful democracy.
If you’re a parent or a mentor, help kids learn more stuff about more stuff. There are fun ways to capture history’s lessons. I just took a short, 8th grade history exam while reading about the recent, rocky student results. I flunked… badly. A wake-up call for me. And one can always learn the basics of when not to buy things (cars, homes, credit cards, Amazon “wants”) outside of one’s existing financial realities.
No, ignorance is not bliss at some juncture. We (the collective community) need to make sure our kids learn to make better choices on alluring options later in life.
Think about it…