Knowledge vs. Wisdom

This post is partially inspired by a chapter from a book I'm reading (Conversations with God, Book 2) and I'll be borrowing heavily from some of the ideas presented in that book.

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Is there a fundamental problem with our school systems?

I think a question like this could spark a lot of debate. Debate can lead to productive results, but more often than not I think debate doesn't really "lead" to anything - it just is. This is because more often than not with a question like this neither side can ever really conclusively prove a point - there are strong, reasonable arguments for both sides.

That's why it's important to ask the right questions. What if, instead of the above question, the question was:

Is there a way to improve our school systems with a fundamental change?

This simple change in wording diverts the focus of the issue. No longer can the arguments focus be whether or not the system is flawed. Things don't have to be flawed for improvements to be made on them: there is no fundamental flaw in the horse-drawn carriage, but that didn't stop advent of the automobile. Changing the wording of the question can change how the answer is reached from a meaningless debate into a productive quest. It's much easier and more practical to look at proposed changes to the educational system and argue over their effectiveness.

So, I come to this post with a question about such an improvement. Would it be beneficial to restructure our educational system so that instead of being knowledge-based, it was wisdom based?

Let me clarify the terms. Knowledge is facts. Knowledge is formulas. Knowledge is, basically, what we teach now. Knowledge conveys information and data that humanity has learned or discovered. The emphasis in knowledge-based educational systems leans toward the memorization of facts. What year did Columbus discover America? What's the Pythagorean theorem? Can you memorize your multiplication tables? Knowledge-based systems cram students' minds with information.

Wisdom is ideas. Wisdom, as opposed to facts, is critical thinking about those facts. Wisdom is about knowing how to think, as opposed to knowing things. Courses like Critical Thinking focus on enhancing a student's wisdom. In a wisdom-based educational system emphasis would not be on a memorization of facts, it would be on problem-solving and coming to your own conclusions.

I think it's important to note that knowledge is required for wisdom. You can't come to your own conclusions about things without an understanding of them and how they work. Wisdom is not really a requirement for knowledge though - you can pack schools full of knowledge-based courses (what to think) and drop any "wisdom" courses (how to think) without immediately obvious detrimental effects.

Then again, just because the effects aren't obvious or immediate doesn't mean they are not there. The current system heavily favors students with a high capacity for memorization, but there is little done to integrate all of the knowledge. I talked to a friend recently (who has denounced all rights to credit for the idea) who talked about how silly it was that our educational system taught courses that were so disparate in their relation to one another. Instead of learning a system of related facts, we learn the facts "in a bubble" without any real relation to other things we learn. We learn about "ancient" Greek society and we learn the Pythagorean formula for triangles, but there is no reference made to their relation...no reference made to the fact that Pythagorus was a philosopher around the same time as Socrates, often not even a reference made to the further (practical) implications of knowing that the sum of the squares in a right triangle is equal to the square of it's diagonal/hypotenuse.

Integration of facts does not necessarily lead to a wisdom-based educational system, but it comes closer to allowing the students a further understanding of not just the "what", but also the "how". The "how" allows students more insight and lets them come to some of their own conclusions.

Conversations with God references this as a major factor in why schools stay the way they are. Parents are afraid to give their children the tools to think for themselves, because then they'll come to their own conclusions, or they'll judge their parents actions by their own standards. The children might disagree and therefore lose respect for the decisions made by the generation before them. The example given is the decision to drop two nuclear bombs on Japan - as teenagers we're not told every side of the story and allowed to come to our own conclusion about whether this is right or wrong. We don't want our children to question our motives, but instead to understand the facts as we see them.

There are also those who question whether youths can successfully think for themselves. It seems they're more interested in rebelling and often morally lacking. They're "destroying our way of life". Let me quote a particularly interesting portion of the book in response to that viewpoint:

"The young people are destroying your way of life. The young people have always done that. Your job is to encourage it, not discourage it.
It is not your young people who are destroying the rain forests. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are depleting your ozone layer. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are exploiting the poor in sweat shops all over the world. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are taxing you to death, then using the money for war and machines of war. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who are ignoring the problems of the weak and downtrodden, letting hundreds of people die of starvation every day on a planet with more than enough to feed everybody. They are asking you to stop it.
It is not your young people who are engaging in the politics of deception and manipulation. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people how are sexually repressed, ashamed, and embarrassed about their own bodies and passing on this shame and embarrassment to their offspring. They are asking you to stop it. It is not your young people who have set up a value system which says that 'might is right' and a world which solves problems with violence. They are asking you to stop it.
Nay, they are not asking you...they are begging you."

Back on topic, I think a generation of those who are expert thinkers rather than a generation of minds packed full of facts would be a beneficial move for society. We forget facts, but as we develop new, more effective, thinking systems they become integrated into our everyday life: unforgettable.