Knowledge is not Wisdom; Opinion is not Truth

When Kim Jong-un called the President of the United States a “Dotard” and “deranged” in response to the POTUS’ slurs calling him “madman” and “Little Rocket Man” I had to google the term dotard to find out what it meant.  And though my opinion is that both men are correct in their assessments of each other and that both men are operating at the same level as middle school boys on the playground, it is good to be able to know exactly what the juvenile insults imply.  I love Google, and Bing and all the other search engines.  I can get knowledge on any topic with a few keystrokes.  In fact, I can get multiple interpretations of topics, history, etiology, current use, op eds, etc., etc.  Encyclopedias are dead.  Long live Google.  (Perhaps as are dictionaries.  Long live spell check.)

In many ways I wish more people did research using search engines.  I saw a claim on line yesterday about something a celebrity said that triggered a fact-check search on my part.  The claim was totally false.  I wish everyone who denies climate change as a result of human behavior would google the research.  I wish everyone who thinks the earth is flat or that it is 6,000 years old, etc., would google those topics.  The knowledge is out there.

On the other hand, rapid access to knowledge does not make one wise.  It makes one knowledgeable.  There is a huge difference.  Google wisdom.  Each definition includes a combination of experience, judgment, expertise, critical thinking, global thinking; all accrued over time.  One simply cannot be wise at age 12 on any topic, except for those children who have experienced significant hardships.  No 30 year-old can be as wise as a 70 year-old, unless that 70 year-old stop learning and seeking a long time ago.  It takes life experiences, mistakes, errors, pain and expertise to accrue wisdom.  Knowledge alone is cheap.  Earning wisdom tends to be very expensive.  Wisdom is individually accrued.  Though the wise may seek to share their wisdom, they cannot pass it on.  Knowledge spreads.  Wisdom either grows in the individual or it does not.

I believe I am wise in some things and repeatedly unwise in others.  Ten years in the classroom, a master’s degree, four years as a campus administrator, five years as a central office administrator, seventeen years as a superintendent of schools and 3 years as a resident graduate assistant at a university.  I have seen much come and much go when it comes to public education.  I have deep knowledge.  I believe I have wisdom.  For instance, when the Texas Legislature considered implementing a career ladder (merit pay) for teachers I testified against it knowing that not only would it not work, that it was counterproductive, it had not worked anywhere else, and demonstrated a total lack of understanding of what happens in a school.  The legislature did it anyway under the umbrella of “make schools more like a business”.  It was a dismal failure and was repealed 8 years later.  The same is true with charter schools and vouchers.  They do not work, they harm kids and their only purpose is to provide the private sector access to public tax dollars earmarked for schools.  But, we continue to try it and continue to expand these failed notions.  The policy makers may have access to knowledge, but they have no wisdom when it comes to public education.  Worse, they do not recognize that they lack wisdom nor are they willing to listen to the wise.

Why is that?  I believe it is the second bizarre phenomenon that individual opinions, individual beliefs, tend to take precedence over the facts.  The stronger the opinion or the belief the less likely facts or knowledge will influence the opinion.  Evolution is a fact as is demonstrated over and over again.  Some do not “believe” in evolution and no amount of factual evidence will change their minds.  The same is true about climate change.  The same is true about religious beliefs.  The same is true about political beliefs.  No amount of evidence will influence the minds of the true believer, those who hold opinions, beliefs, attitudes that are free floating and are not grounded in facts and science and knowledge. 

It is for this group of people, or for any individual who holds a strong belief that runs contrary to reality, that wisdom will never come.  Faithfulness to the belief may come, but not wisdom and not knowledge.  For every legislator who believes the “cure” for public schools lies in emulating the private sector, implementing strict accountability, standardized tests, charter schools, etc., no amount of facts and historical data will change their minds.  They believe it.  They want it to be true, but it is not.  Those of us who see their folly would be amused if we were not subject every year to more and more attempts to implement their malignant beliefs.  It is as though they see they are headed down the wrong road so they decide to go faster.  Worse, our new Secretary of Education is a missionary regarding such efforts.  Lord help us and help the kids of the USA.

The same is true for supply side economics, or the trickle-down theory.  The entire notion that if we can somehow leave more money in the hands of the wealthy our economy will be better.  Time and time again such a belief has been proven false, sometimes with disastrous results.  And yet, we try it again as there are those committed to this notion despite the history and despite the facts.

I could go on and on.  But I would be amiss if I did not point out that the same philosophy that values flawed opinions versus facts now has a major spokesman and advocate in the White House.  Our President describes a world as he wishes it would be, not as the facts indicate it is.  Over and over and over fact checking his speeches reveals he is either grossly misinformed, ignorant or is flat out lying.  And yet there are those who so believe in him such facts are irrelevant.  And I find that very sad and very scary.

Our progress must be based on facts, on reality, on science.  To hope for progress based on beliefs and opinions is to advocate a return to the Dark Ages.  And that will not make America Great.  If our policy makers do not have the wisdom to seek out the wise for consult, then we shall be harmed by the enactment of opinion that runs contrary to fact.  We are in the midst of that right now. 

I have reached a place in my life where my intolerance for false opinions is at an all-time high.  Frankly, I do not care if you still believe in Santa Clause, still believe we should persecute people for thinking differently and being different, still believe that supply side economics works, still believe that junior high bullying is our best foreign policy strategy, still believe that some humans are “better” than other humans, still believe that oil companies have our best interest at heart, that banks still have our best interest at heart, that the Koch brothers still have our best interest at heart, still believe that walls to separate people work, and/or still believe climate change is a hoax, then I am here to tell you that you are wrong, the facts say otherwise.  Knowledge is not wisdom, opinion is not truth. 

God help us all.