To “Reboot” Society and Political Discourse.

The Lindsay Advocate magazine is published monthly and found in retail outlets across the City of Kawartha Lakes. The views of its Editorial staff are notoriously on the extreme political ‘left’.

Trevor Hutchinson raised an interesting topic in Trevor’s Take.

Contributing Editor Hutchinson points out that many contemporary topics of public concern are very complex. Politicians and public officials claim to apply the tools of Statistics and Science to investigate these topics and to arrive at appropriate decisions and actions. Reports are then prepared and presented for public consumption and commented on by professional journalists like Trevor and growing community of ‘citizen journalists’ like me who publish on uncensored platforms like Substack.

If Trevor were to agree to meet with me over coffee, I would ask him two questions concerning his essay. How well-prepared does he believe the average citizen to be in order to understand those “official” reports and the underlying mechanisms of analysis that were employed to prepare them? Also, how well-prepared is the average elected official to orchestrate those decision-making processes competently on our behalf?

My contribution to the discussion …

In 1969, Ontario’s public Education officials cancelled the 5-year Arts & Sciences high school diploma program which ended with Grade 13. I was in the last Grade 13 cohort which required studies in Math A, Math B, Physics, Chemistry, History and English. I went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Waterloo which would not have accepted me (or any student) who had not completed Grade 13 with good grades.

Beginning in 1970, high school went to Grade 12. Courses in the Maths and Sciences became electives while a broader range of Arts and Social Sciences were offered. This shift in focus has continued and produced a large proportion of our adult population, especially women, who have never studied the subjects that form the foundation of our modern world. (Note: A recent C.D.Howe podcast discussion revealed that fewer than 15% of school age girls choose to study the maths and sciences which could lead them to careers in the high-demand STEM fields).

Too many of our citizens today are poorly-prepared to genuinely understand the subtleties of, and options for, many complex topics - especially those in which science and statistics play an integral part. Climate change, illnesses caused by viral infections, treatments for diseases, the impacts of industrial chemicals on agriculture and our environment, the digital surveillance technologies that continually invade our privacy and potential safety, and the underlying causes of inflation are just a few of these complex topics.

The inadequately-prepared citizens to whom I refer are often gullible and susceptible to superficial and politicized claims made by an “expert” or an “authority” on the complex topics to which Trevor referred. Large proportions of our citizens have effectively outsourced their critical thinking ‘work’ on these topics to other people - the “elites” - who have acquired the necessary credentials and positions of public authority to make sure that their reports and claims are heard by the broader public via state-funded (eg the CBC), state-regulated (eg the entire telecommunications industry) and state-controlled (eg Facebook, Twitter, Google, etc) communications channels.

My “reboot” suggestion

Trevor’s suggestion to “reboot” public discussions in politics is the right sentiment but it won’t cure the root illness which has led to so much ‘fragmentation of understanding’ within society. Watching television shows like The History Channel or reading periodicals like Scientific American can be entertaining and informative, but are no substitute for methodically studying the fundamentals of maths and science in school.

His “reboot” could be more robust and enduring if it included a return to a 5-year Arts & Science curriculum for high school students. This would restore much of the lost critical thinking abilities within our citizen citizen populations - abilities which are crucial for competent, informed decision-making. It will also prepare many more Canadian children for productive careers in the high demand STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields and make Canada less reliant on the Immigration of foreign workers with these abilities.

As a long time Libertarian who advocates often for Less Government and greater Freedom of Informed Choice, especially now in this era of unlimited Digital information and specialization, my “reboot” would go well beyond Trevor’s. It would introduce competition into the “Education Market” and eliminate the monopoly hold that governments and their labour union partners have on this sector. The Libertarian approach is described in the Platform at the Ontario Libertarian Party web site.