Why education is the foundation of fairness

Two things have led me to write this entry. A few weeks ago I was viewing world demographic data for my economics and the environment class. I was appalled that the best rate of 8th grade "mathematical proficiency" in any of the United States was about 50%. Fifty percent. Half of the students in 8th grade in this "great nation," which provides and requires education of all children, are not proficient in math.

The second thing was my indoor triathlon today. Most of you know I am a cyclist. On a bike, you pedal at the highest cadence (RPM) you can comfortably manage in the highest gear you can comfortably manage it. This translates to power(watts), which translates to moving you a distance per unit time. So if I pedal 100rpm in 6th gear, I work harder (generate more power) and I go farther in 1 hr than if I pedal 100rpm in 5th gear. Apparently this is not the case on a stationary bike. For purposes of calculating distance on a stationary bike 100rpm in 5th gear= 100rpm in 6th gear=100rpm in nth gear. Unfortunately I didn't know this until 10 mins into the 20 minute bike segment. I had spent the first half of the segment maximizing my wattage, when I should have been maximizing my rpms. I burned myself out doing 200 watts at 100 rpm, when everyone else was doing 100 watts at 140 rpms -- hence "going farther" than me.

So this has led me to reflect on the importance of understanding the rules and context in which you operate, and how not knowing them places you at a disadvantage relative to those who are in the know. This disadvantage translates to power inequities that allow the educated powerful to run roughshod over the uneducated. It allows multinational corporations to get Costa Ricans to rape their tropical rainforests to create banana plantations, because they'll get a few more dollars for working in a pesticide riddled landscape than they would nurturing their forest. It makes suicide bombers think that sacrificing their lives is the only way they can make an impact on the world. It lets leaders bully the masses and the masses in other countries cheer for wars to put down the bullies, when war only degrades us all.

Are we afraid that if we make education available to all, those who recieve it will realize how long they have been put down and seek revenge. It seems that those in power are reticent to relinquish the tiniest iota of it, but aren't those the very people we want to avoid having in power. Only by educating everyone will we be able to develop world leadership that is fair and uncorrupted.