It is possible that this map explains a lot. I had no idea of the low proportions of tertiary educated people in so much of the USA. I know you don’t have to go to college to be smart, but a lot of smart people do go to college, and education does affect how we think, especially how critically we think.
Critical thinking involves evaluating information, identifying assumptions, and solving problems objectively, requiring skills like analysis, inference, and communication to form sound judgments and make informed decisions. (Google AI)
The thing is that the less critical people are, the more susceptible we are to succumb to the Dunning-Kruger Effect. For example: someone might think that they know all about climate change based on one YouTube video by someone without credentials. I am sure that one could think of many more examples.
In theory at least, critical thinkers will be less dogmatic about their opinions and also more likely to change their minds in light of new evidence. Evidence from reliable sources is key.
The states that are yellow, red, and maroon map pretty well corresponds to the states that voted for tRump. That is what I was saying about “blue collar” folks and why he unfortunately won the election.
ReplyDeleteThe democrats did not spend enough time giving the “blue collar” folks attention about how the democrats would be helpful for them and how unions were their best bet as they traditionally had for many decades until the 1990s. This caused the “blue collar” folks to listen to the nonsense tRump spouted and they bought into it because they as a whole do not spend a lot of time thinking/pondering ideas deeply. They “go with their “gut”” most of the time. This is exactly why tRump
was able to win.
PipeTobacco
I hate to put a political spin on something like this but Pipe Tobacco's comment is spot on. I have been blaming the media for not trying to educate the folks instead of only whipping up hysteria and the leadership of the Democratic party for focusing on the few instead of the masses, but it doesn't seem like anybody really cares. It is easier to hate what is already done and can't be changed.
ReplyDeleteMy state is one of the yellow ones. Of the eight students in my graduating class, I was the only one to attend a four year college and graduate. One other attempted but transferred out for a two year degree and I think two more got a two year degree. The remaining four just went from graduation directly to work. So those numbers sound about right.
This is a terrific chart, and I, too, am agreeing with Ed and Pipe Tobacco. I'm in a yellow state. If they were to break down Michigan, my state, into college and non, you would find the lower half of the lower peninsula would probably be blue. Quite blue. But anything north of what we call "the thumb" would be yellow to orangey-red. We're a very divided purple state now, urban being blue and rural/northern being red. There's a lot of work to do in the next few years -- I can only hope it is not too late.
ReplyDeleteThere is still the emotional component where many unemployed persons didn't have their jobs which depended upon things like coal mining. They still don't have jobs, and now have the horrible tariff-raised-prices, so those emotions are even higher. Ability to make informed decisions is only good for those who have their survival established. Take away that, and decisions will change directions! We saw that in western North Carolina 6 months ago, where homes and jobs suddenly were washed away. FEMA was slow to provide help, so they were blamed for a secondary level of the disaster. It was easy enough for different politicians to stand in front of wrecked cars and houses and make promises. Our government should have been helping us, instead was just tearing itself apart.
ReplyDeleteSocial media makes us all experts today…or so many believe. Critical thinking is an essential skill these days!
ReplyDeleteRight now, we've got a measles outbreak. We've got RFK Jr. saying that Vitamin A fights measles. The result is that we've now got kids being admitted to the hospital with severe Vitamin A toxicity, which can lead to kidney and liver damage. The head of the CDC just handed in his letter of resignation because what his agency was being directed to do was to seek out information which buttressed the Vitamin A advice as opposed to issuing scientific facts.
ReplyDeleteWe have someone in our family who is an antivaxer. She went to Erie to a kids event last week. Now they have found measles in Erie. Her children are a perfect vector to bring the disease back to our county which has a large Amish population of unvaccinated children.
If ever there was a time to hear facts, this would be the time.
One problem is searching for information that confirms your views, and then accepting whatever that source says. It is called confirmation bias. Maybe I should write about that someday, but I am not expert.
DeleteBut here's a site: https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/confirmation-bias
I agree with you that confirmation bias is a troubling truism. Without a willingness to dig into the full range of ideas on a topic, folks will tend to align with opinions that match their own.
DeleteYou may not be an expert, John. Neither am I. But anybody can see what it is doing to our world.
DeleteAgree with Marie, too many experts. *Wow, I sure hope you still have power with that massive storm!
ReplyDeleteAnd it's so true that when we think we know something, we don't, always! More and more often now, I see that what I thought I knew in the past wasn't true, but goodness how I stood by it back then! So much so, that now I imagine myself in the future looking back at me now and realizing I didn't know what I was talking about half the time. It's humbling me.
ReplyDeleteA very sobering map. The GOP love the uneducated and are doing their best to make education less available
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm swimming in all the theories and opinions sometimes and it's increasingly difficult to get reliable information. Perhaps that's deliberate on the internet's part? However, the fact that I'm working hard to figure out what is accurate tells its own tale. I am a college-educated person from Washington State by the way.
ReplyDeleteHad to blow up your map bigger to see New Hampshire - light blue and Maryland where we moved from - dark blue. Unfortunately education standards are not nationally the same and states that pay teachers poorly are getting what they paid for.
ReplyDeleteThis is 100% revealing! Thanks for this. Really interesting and sort of sad post. Aloha AC
ReplyDeleteThere is an old saying in my old town, "people receive compulsory education but people seldomly apply things learnt through education"
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, I know quite a few highly educated people, if things like MA, Phd, MD.etc count as educated, who are staunchly backing this current agenda. It is baffling, but so many things feed fear, which is what it comes down to, I think. Education matters but it isn't the only component.
ReplyDeleteI wholly agree with you that education is an important facet but not the only one. In my opinion, the amount of “general education” in a person’s education also plays a role. Folks with limited experience in arts and also philosophy tend to be more didactic and prone to seek simplified answers to life’s questions. And that sort of mindset occurs regardless of “education” level attained.
DeletePipeTobacco
Clear example of that at some of our universities where the tent cities went up last spring. Undergrads? Not all of them.
DeleteNah, people don't want facts. People like Ed just want to cut expenditures, forgetting that their president is adding to the debt. It is shameful, the disrespect for people who have less. I am so discouraged.
ReplyDeleteThat much of the US is in the yellow bracket explains a lot about the present situation.
ReplyDeleteI also think that people who do not travel are more apt to form opinions based on fear of anything unfamiliar. I'm not even necessarily talking about globe trotters. I remember once hearing a man go on about the fact that Lowe's had signs in Spanish and English. "This is 'Merica! We talk English." I was fresh from a trip to New York City and I heard more languages in one day than I had ever heard in my life. I saw so many different cultures and it really was just so exhilarating. No other word for it. I couldn't understand why this person thought that a different language was such a threat.
ReplyDeleteQuite interesting. I have a Canadian Master's degree but I've lived my life open to listening and learning from everyone. Sadly though, I know that reciprocity is not always reciprocated.
ReplyDeleteI also saw that graph and was struck by the patterns on it. I hear you about the Dunning Kreuger effect as well. I saw a perfect example of it at our local hall - a diatribe about immigrants of different religions, etc, taking Canadian jobs. I happen to know that the son of this mouthy woman turned down a job that one of my Afghani students took. Washing dishes at a fast food restaurant.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking is so important when the sources of disinformation are legion.
Good post. Good data. Thanks, teach.
Wow, this is a great map. My brother, sister, and I are the only ones in our rather extended family that had any higher education past high school.
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking was one of my favorite classes when I went back to college in 2008 to get another degree. Pharmaceuticals was another one.
I see my Stepdaughter and her family ignoring education and believing anything their pastor tells them to do...or vote for.
I have too many friends who suffer from the Dunning Kruger effect.