Me Fail English? That's Unpossible.

Education really is a silver bullet. It can be a cure for poverty, for violence, for crime. The problem is that information, much like speech, needs to be complete and unfiltered to be of significant value. That's the reason that children who are taught in authoritarian environments (think terror states and dicatorships) end up with a skewed version of "truth" and gain none of the benefits I mentioned at the top. In the United States, we've had many debates recently over what our children should be taught, and who should decide what to teach. Should educators decide what is relevant, or what is factually viable, or should people and the government decide what they do and do not want their children to know? Some people assume that if you teach a child about Evolution that they'll reject religion, or that if you teach a child about sex that they'll start having it. I can safely say that both of those are untrue.

After a two-week research study in Texas, they found that children who are given proper sex education (and not merely the "wait until marriage" part) are more likely to wait to have sex, and more likely to wait until they are married then children who aren't. What this says is that giving children information doesn't mean that they are going to put that information into practice, it simply means that having that information allows them to make responsible and informed decisions. With anyone and especially with children, telling them not to do something if only because you say so will only make them want to do it more. Explaining things to people and allowing them to make the decision on their own means that not only are they more likely to do the right thing, but because they came to the conclusion themselves, that they will understand it and stick to it.

If we truly live in an information age, then we need to start acting like it and stop trying to hide the unpleasant truths. Instead, we should be seeking to make sure that all avenues to information aren't blocked and that instead of just getting one person's opinions we are getting the whole truth. That means allowing open discussion, open exchange, and not restricting information simply because we don't like it or we don't think people can handle it. This also goes for politicians, pundits, and journalists who think that ignoring the other side of an argument will make it untrue.