Becoming Educated

I CAN THINK of two formally well educated people who support Trump, and there must be many more, somewhere. One has a masters degree in geology, the other, in creative writing, from Columbia. This initself does not disparove the well worn thesis that Trump suooprters are poorly educared, indeed most of them are, studies reveal. It merely proves that there are exceptions to generalities, exceptions which prove the rule. All across America's fruited plain,on the campuses of major universities, even occasionally in libraries,Trump supporters abound, young Republicans clubs flourish, but like Trump supporters generally, are vastly outnumbered by America's morally decent sane. One of my Trump supporter former friends told me that he knows damned good and well that climate change is a hoax, because he is a geologist. Credentials count. The other Trumper friend, who is not a scientist, assures me that climate change is caused by fluctuations in the sun's output, that the Earth is holow, and that it harbors intelligent life in its interior.No input from the actual solar scientist community was sought.Why bother with expertise, when truth can be so easily be gleaned from locals with advanced degrees,in whatever? My two friends are clearly engaged in a war on expertise, science, and common sense. Gravity, it seems derives not from mass, but from empty space beneath a planetary surface. The climate change denier does not explain how you can add a trillion tons of carbon dioxide to the Earth's atmosphere without it absorbing any extra solar radiation heat. The proponent of solar fluctuations has not yet articulated precisely how the alleged solar fluctuation phenomenon has excaped, somehow, the attention of the world's solar astronomers and scientists generally. They probably don't think they should have to. How, for example, can we account for the Earth's gravitational attraction, sans the necessary mass? Ask a Trump supporter engaged in magical pseudo science. If he could do it he'd do it bending over backwards,twisting and turning like a fourth grader during an excruciating math exam. Carl Sagan pointed out in one of his books,"The Dragons of Eden", that there is no shrotage of intelligence, but that there is a shortage of basic science education in American life. Such shortages, however, have never been known to impede the human imagination, the human ego, or the flow of hot carbon dioxide from the oral orifices of the overly exuberant inadequately educated. But if only the well educated spoke, and if the poorly educated failed to express their nonsensical opinions and beliefs, how would we measure and know who needs to learn what, and from whom? An American political leader, a Republican Senator from the great state of Oklahoma, recently warned us that wind is a finite resource, and that wind turbines are using it up at an alarming rate. As we like to say, you can't make this stuff up. When we the halfway decently educated finish splitting our ribs, rolling our eyes, and venting our expressions of disgust,it is our mandate to make a game plan for how to address this. Those who are the problem are not going to solve the problem. Head Start, charter schools, more money for public schools and teacher pay, better teacher training, adult education, free college, are all good ideas. Perhaps less texting, pronography, and endless avalanches of selfies would assist. Escape entertainment is always an easy target of choice. The object of education is to inspire in us all a love of learning based upon a fascination with the world. Let us teach our children, allow our children to nurture their innate curiosity, and stop stifling it through rote, cookie cutter, punitive forced fact mind stuffing. People have the inherent right to use their talents however they find most rewarding. We exist to fulfill our own dreams and aspirations, not to jump through hoops held firmly in place by petty pedantic pedagogues.