If you have time, take a look at what I read and feel free to make whatever comment(s) you might have.
Recently I was asked to write a short essay in response to a very particular question about education.
I love having discussions so any responses to my journal here could be rather fun. I will start off with the question I was asked. Following it will of course be my response.

American humorist Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) once said "Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty."  Do you believe this is true?  Why or why not?

For me, Mark Twain's statement has a deeper meaning to it. Uneducated people, are often cocky and ignorant and well-educated people often are uncertain of their own opinions and are often depressed or pessimistic. For example, the more we learn about things like global warming, the economy and war, the more questions arise and the further we get from really understanding the situation(s).

  One perspective dictates that global warming obviously exists therefore immediate and dramatic actions must take place. We are seeing significant changes taking place like Greenland and the Arctic melting. Looking at historical records we can tell that the Earth is indeed warming up and obviously causing these large ice caps to melt. The common suggestion is that increase in C02 is causing a greenhouse effect. But when you analyze the situation further, you begin to realize that there really isn't any evidence supporting the claims being made. Educated people realize we need to do something, but as we learn about it further we begin to realize that this problem is too large and that humankind really can't do anything significant about it. That's not to say that we shouldn't do anything about it. I am just pointing out that it has become a problem so large that it is impossible for us to "fix" the situation.

Our economic problems can be addressed in a similar way. We know what the problems are in our economy, and we have pretty good ideas as to what has caused them. But, as we continue to analyze these problems, we begin to understand that we have a broken society. Economic systems are messed up by corruption. We learn of these problems in class but we can't help but feel like there really isn't anything we can do to fix the current or future problems and that history is doomed to repeat itself. 

Another situation we could look at is war. We realize the effects war has on a country, the people, and the economy. We learn how much the war affects everything. Yet we also learn that there really isn't we can do to avoid war. We knew that going to war with Iraq wouldn't solve anything but we had to react to the terrorist attacks. 

I think the meaning of Mark Twain's words could be closely associated with  the phrase "ignorance is bliss."  The less we know about something the more positive we can view it. The less I knew about global warming the more I felt it was a problem that we could fix. Some people choose to ignore problems entirely, and simply follow the words of a politician, or a religious leader like a pastor. My intentions here are not to spark a political discussion, or a religious discussion. I am simply interested in the perspectives of those around me.

I apologize for the cruddy grammar. I wrote this journal entry in a bit of a hurry.