What Ever Happened to Common Sense?

Where did it go? Why did it leave? And can it please, please come back?

Simple concepts like working at something to get better at it. the idea that a person is responsible for their own actions. That the adults should be in charge of things, not the children.

Please don't think this is some call to go back to the "good old days". It's no such thing. There never were any good old days. But while society has evolved (at least in America) to be more tolerant, I feel like we have thrown the baby out with the bath water.

The culture I live in is heavily politicized and dissected. Everything is broken down into its parts. Getting from A to B has been replaced by the study of getting from A to B. When confronted with a challenge, people tend to think: am I allowed to do this? what kind of degree is required?

Engaging in the world directly and with a sense of accomplishment has been lost for many of us. And we are hurting for it. We lack that sense of getting things done, of figuring things out for ourselves. Instead we ask permission. We think, shouldn't the government be taking care of this?

But so much of the joy of accomplishment is getting through the tough parts, learning the ropes, as they say.

I see it everyday at work. Teachers in a public school will sit at their computers waiting for me to come and show them how to do a simple task, or fix some "problem" that usually they could have fixed for themselves, had they had the will, or more patience, or greater curiosity. the computer is seen as a machine that does certain things for them, not as an extension of themselves and their own exploration of the world. instead, they see it as a "press this button, get this result" kind of thing. Hence, their frustration when the machine doesn't function the same way every time. I guess this is a product of a consumer culture based on the precepts of the industrial age.

The idea of doing something and getting a certain result unfailingly is a kind of post-industrial dream. Of course, what is needed is people who are not afraid to experiment and fail as they learn. Failing and trying again are essential parts of learning. Anyone who has successfully achieved mastery of a skill will tell you that. You simply can't be afraid all the time, whether it's fixing your brakes or doing your own taxes. You have to be able to dust yourself off and start over again.

The difference between book learning and knowledge based on experience should be obvious, but it isn't always. I work in IT and I deal with network admins all the time. Most of them have information systems degrees and that tends to make them feel they have the answers, but sometimes a problem is simple and a simple mental troubleshooting list will have it cleared up in no time. When you approach a challenge by thinking about how it should look, you often fail to see how it actually looks in real time.

I give these examples to illustrate the problems with the way we are thinking about problems. Here's a breakdown:

1. We tend to ask ourselves if we have permission to be working with this problem instead of having the confidence to face things head on.

2. we dissect and attempt to fit the problem into a preconceived model instead of starting from the problem ( the inside) and then working our way out.

3. we misread the problem based on bias.

more to come...