Confirmation Bias

It’s not usual or intended for this blog to be of religious topics, but since these modest* words may be considered in other lights, I’ll let it pass.

But as I was saying, there are times where you have an epiphany, even if that word is to grand for the experience you had. It could be so minor as the recollection of a sin or grudge long forgotten but remembered in the midst of the Lord’s prayer. It could be something truly modest which confirms your belief.

Yet as you dwell on the issue for a moment you remember the confirmation bias; that what you look for is what you find, not because it’s true, but because that’s what you see. And for a moment you have doubts as to whether your experience was noteworthy at all.

Well, I’d just like to mention that the bias works both ways. While god may be seen in things he doesn’t touch, he may be ignored in things he does. If you seek to doubt an event, if you seek to find your own biases you might just confirm that those biases exist. At the end of the day; be rational. Take everything with a grain of salt, yet continue to listen none-the-less.

*Ok, the diction and prose doesn’t exactly sound like it tries to be modest. But I accidently do that when trying to be specific/true to what I mean. That doesn’t mean it works…

disillusionment.

This morning I just realized, while reading an article opposed to “bailing out” the auto companies, the cause of this hostility toward American auto-makers.

You see, when a child reads Popular Mechanics they believe it. When they see images of flying concept cars and streamlined coupes, they expect to own them once they grow up. They see the swept-wing stylings of  ‘57 Thunderbirds and  ‘59 Cadillacs. They grow into budding teenagers driving big-block GTOs and souped-up Mustangs. Or at least, sitting idly aside while envying those who did.

But as they came oh so near to their piece of the pie, to the slice of iron that they were owed, it all fell apart; The oil ran dry, the prices ran high, and the style, the power, the panache went dim. Engines were systematically choked by the Clean Air Act, they were starved by CAFE standards, speed limits plummeted to 55, and worst of all, innovative designs were marred by NHTSA regulations as well as crash impact requirements.

The piece of Americana which these men and women had felt entitled to, had felt promised, was quietly taken behind the barn, and they didn’t even notice. They just turned to the new imported wonders. They bought up the cheap steel which was stamped together in foreign lands, by unknown soiled hands, under paid, over worked, endangered on a daily basis; and the profits went to their overseers.

Meanwhile, out to pasture, the American worker starved too, but not because he was underpaid, and not because he could not make a superior product, but simply because of free trade.

But I’m not here to lecture on free trade, god knows I’ve done that before; I’m here to show that the disillusionment so many have felt toward Detroit is unfounded. Unlike Exxon, they have not extorted the American public. They have not reaped inordinate profits. They have never starved their workers as Hyundai does on our own shores.

My point, quite simply, is a request to all; please target your hate at the appropriate cause. Do not starve your dog and justify its death by saying it did not eat. And especially, when it’s weak and dying, do not give it a bite and expect that to absolve you of guilt.

Breeding ADHD

In class, which is now over as the semester ended, I read a book by Freire, in which he described the ‘Banking’ model of eductation. This is the current type of education we have across the coutnry. The teacher knows. The teacher teaches. He or She lectures, goes through problems, demonstrates a principal, and the student learns. While I’d likely agree that this trains students to be objectified, and at the very least fails to nurture autonomity in students, I have another point today.

It’s boring! This may be an obvious problem, but if it is so obvious and so often complained about, maybe it is a noteworthy point. For, if a student is bored, then their attention is not being captured; their abilities are not being used, and as we have a natural propensity to do, to be active and fulfilled, we then turn to whatever will entertain us. And as the entire class is slowed for the slowest to learn, the faster are left spending more and more time daydreaming, thinking about other stuff, talking durring class. Students are thus trained to do two things at once. We work on what needs to be done, and listen with one ear, and dream with the other. And as we wander, we wander. It’s boring, and there’s a reason why kids complain; because it’s painful, because it’s harmful.