Can we know only what we are prepared to know?

If an individual has never learned to add and subtract that individual cannot learn how to divide and multiply.

Our American educational system, K-12, attempts to teach minimum fundamentals that prepare an individual to function within our high tech society. Our colleges and universities generally augment these fundamentals with some form of specialized knowledge that will make it possible for graduates to obtain good jobs.

Few graduates from our American educational system are prepared to comprehend the very complex type of problems our society encounters. In a democracy such as ours the citizens can choose the politicians to act as their representatives in government. In a democracy such as ours the citizen can veto any public policy that they do not comprehend even though it might be necessary for the survival of the American culture and perhaps even of the survival of the human species.

Under such circumstances is a democratic form of government adequate?

If not what form of government is adequate?

Is it possible for us to educate citizens to the higher level of sophistication that is required to manage a sophisticated high tech society such as ours?

I am convinced that we cannot "see" that which we are not prepared to "see"; metaphor ‘know is see’.

It is like walking in a forest such that we are unable to see very far because the trees restrict our view. We can use the analogy of walking in the forest, which to see beyond the surrounding trees we must have the means to climb a tall tree to see a bit further.

Perhaps we might extend the analogy to say that we must have some means to raise our self above the surrounding clutter before we can see a bit further. Only when we find a hill with tall trees and climb one of those trees can we see the mountain ahead, which we might climb and see a mountain range in the distance, which we might travel too so that we can see even further. But as long as we do not climb some trees we cannot see beyond the mundane appearances of our little world of trees that surround us.

In a way yes we can only know what we are prepared to know. The reason for this is simple... When one begins to learn something from something else they do not learn from the perspective of the teacher but as from the perspective of the student. You can not teach a man to fish if they do not want to learn how to fish. They will learn something other then how to fish and possibly be able to apply it later on in a way that seems to be fishing.

With that said one can take the steps to learn what needs to be learned inoder to learn. Once one has that ability almost no challenge will be to big for that person. Because they will know they have the ability to over come it. If you understand how to solve a problem and also understand how you understood how to solve the problem then the next one you face will be easyer to solve. Learning is not about memorizing facts as many believe. To truely learn you must understand what the difference between failing and winning is and how it applys to knowledge. When one begins to think they understand something they are closer to not understanding it. This has been said by many people and its a fundemental truth. The difference is when you get closer to understanding something the more you do so the less you understand everything you understood about the world before.

Knowledge and its use is a power many do not even wield let alone use properly.