Too much or too little culture?

[Uneunsae]

As well you might be, Edward... However, I'd like to point out that Mao Zedong was the leader of Communist China for a while and was one of the most important leaders on the planet since China is such a vast and populous country.
I'd say he, along with Stalin, Lenin, Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth, Gandhi, should be as famous as the musicians you are mentioning here.

The fact that anyone thinks otherwise is incredibly shocking!
These aren't things that happened too long ago and the issues are incredibly relevant today.

Do you know I have met so many people even my own age (32) who feel they they shouldn't care about history and many of them don't think that they should even vote in any election! They shrug their shoulders and then complain when issues affect them or when they hear about some horrible thing happen to someone else.

I'm not saying everyone should be a history expert, but should know what things are relevant to your life. People want to live lives all by themselves with their iPod and computer. Well, that's not possible! Even for someone as introverted and independent as myself. What happens in this world affects us all. Especially today where the events in one nation have very direct consequences on another. We are all intertwined so deeply, you cannot unravel the many ties we all have.

[sillyboy86]

Wow! That's some condemnation, Sillyboy, lol. I don't think I belong to that category of teachers, but it might be because I too was always curious. It doesn't mean that I know everything. Far from it, but a good coating of cultural veneer, that I have. And if I don't know, I bloody well look it up. (I sometimes even have to check things I know, or think I know, lol).
OK, Sillyboy, what shall we talk about next?

LOL, I don't know but I know I'm a pain in the ass... heheh. I don't know everything, the opposite, I agree with 'the more you learn the more you know you don't know' (but I'm not a Socrates fan...? XD) . Even about a single thing, for example a main passion, for me it's the Art, I know I will never know enough... It's frustrating and motivating at the same time.

that one cannot possibly imagine to know everything about the history of the earth let alone the history of it's people.

....

We all know different knowledge base on our likes and dislikes. It's not to say it's a good or a bad thing. There should be no nee to judge others. If anything, take this as an opportunity to spread your knowledge to others, and thus that is how our society can grow as a culture that becomes more aware.

My 2 cents.

I agree partly with this point of view, I have many interest myself, I'm a fan of that and those other things, actually I don't have a real passion in 'History' but I think there are some things one should know, for himself, to feed his mind, his soul and consciousness.
For example, some personalities had influenced the way we live, and knowing them and what they did, permits to us to know our rights etc.
These men gave us the rights (in different ways, also intellectual) to be a fan of Spice Girls or Game of Thrones, or a Rugby team, and they've "forged" the things that your parents have learned from their, and taught to you.
They weren't "magic creatures or gods" but their actions were the expression of the one of millions of other people.
You should say the same for some politicians, intellectuals, artists, musicians, etc. ;-) They've literally influenced your life more and more and more than the Spice Girls, Game of Thrones of a Rugby team.

WOOF!

[austin]

Thought thats were we got this from

[MikeW]

Mao Zedong is *so* last century. As are the other 'world leaders' you reference. Of course Elizabeth is still with us but who cares about some silly old IRL Queen? GOT Cerci is *so* much more interesting.

I mean, what do you expect when The Epic of Gilgamesh can be reduced to a series of Twitter posts, concluding with,

I've failed. Headed home. Life not the same without my Enkidu. There will never be another like him. The greatest bromance of my life.

/sarc

[HumbleTangerine]

I actually know a lot about Mao, but I doubt I would have made the connection between chair and Chinese.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Chairman Mao - so 20th century.... That is ancient history, long dead and gone.

As to why Lincoln, Kennedy, etc are remembered and not Chairman Meow, is not so much culture but what part of history is taught.

Mao wasn't that significant to Western Culture as they other guys, so he gets a foot more in the history text book the others get whole chapters.

Like it or not, each generation is stupider than the one before. I think its not a majority of Americans who can't find Iraq on a Map, or even understand the simple math A+B=C.

The larger half of that problem is what I call the dumming down of the people. It is a purposeful lowering of education values to pump out more students based on averages not on what is taught.

[Tulloni]

It comes down to the school's curriculum at the end of the day which, in the UK at least, is heavily biased in favour of WWI and WWII which are done to death in History, Western literature and poetry, and the Western style of politics. As a result, we tend not to study the political and cultural systems of Asian and African countries. I didn't even hear about Confucius until I was around 20 and am now just learning about him via a library book.

I am sorry if this offends but I think in some ways teachers are responsible for this as well. A lot of kids don't want to learn due to a lack of discipline and whilst all elements of society are responsible for this breakdown of discipline I think that many teachers, with middle class, liberal values, particularly stand out here. All too often when I was at school teachers would turn a blind eye to bullying and disgusting behaviour from some of the worst students imaginable. Some of the teachers were downright unprofessional as well. I was glad to leave school. To be frank I learnt far more after I left school than I did whilst I was there.

So to remedy problems like this we need not just a radical change to the curriculum so that students learn more about the world a bit earlier, without so much bias on the two large wars (though ensuring these are obviously covered to a degree as they are important), but there also needs to be a radical change in culture and a restoration of discipline.

[Iceblink]

I know who Mao is, but if you gave me the words "chair" and "Chinese" I don't think Chairman Mao is what would come to mind. My thoughts would probably be about furniture.

[Charon]

Lets go for a quick and telling review. You're in Switzerland where educational standards as well as intellectual standards are high. Probably most of the responders here are from the United States and have been subjected to arguably one of the worst public education systems in First World Countries. 30% of the teachers are not qualified to teach....anything. Students are there because the law says they have to be and although there's vague sort of curriculum, it's hardly followed. But one statistic I believes the complete failure of education in the United States more than any other; In 1960 the average graduating High School Senior had a working vocabulary of around 50,000 words. Today that number is down, way down, to 19,000-roughly that of a person of twelve years old. Can we infer that after twelve learning ends. No, not entirely but we might suggest it grinds to pace slow enough to make it pointless. Certainly there are some bright students in the public system but they've learned to just teach themselves. A library card and a few hours a week can be very educational.
Some years back Albert Shanker, then the head of the American Federation of Teachers, was asked what responsibility his union had to the students. His answer was that "I'll care about students when they have a union card in their hand and can vote.." Succinct, totally dismissive of education and with it the student. I would hazard to suggest that if you asked the average American to define either China or Chair they would have difficulties. To further ask them to make the connexion between the two based on those two words is almost from outer space.

[MikeW]

Like it or not, each generation is stupider than the one before.

I'm going to take issue with this one point. It just isn't true. As someone who has been on this planet for 66 years I see it very differently. You aren't 100% wrong of course… and I agree that 'dumbing down' is occurring, especially in the US. But point 1) there have *always* been and always will be truly stupid people. That is, people who simply cannot learn beyond a certain point. But the counter point, 2) is just the opposite. There are far *more* intelligent and highly creative people on this planet right now than there has ever been at any other time in history.

Now, whether the percentage per capita is increasing or decreasing, that I couldn't say (my guess is it is more or less a constant). But what I do know is that, due to our technology, those who *are* intelligent and creative can, and often do, have a far broader reach (in terms of the lives they touch, however slightly) than ever before in world history.

Just my 2¢.