America is in a state of cognitive dissonance. Not familiar with the term? It’s a state of inconsistent attitudes related to behavioral decisions. Still not making sense? How about when you are living one way but thinking you are living another.
In my classroom I’m at the end of a thematic unit called, “Does government matter?” which began on the first day of the Shutdown. I learned the answer to the question on this first day when two out of forty students even knew that the government had shut down. Since then, our leader has gotten much richer, gas and groceries have all gone up, Hamas set free the last twenty hostages, the White House was demolished, troops are still being sent to American cities, alleged drug runners are being killed with zero oversight and we keep rolling along like nervous frogs in a pot of slowly boiling water.
Now, before I go into my yearly basketball watching stupor season, let me rant for a moment. First, government should help. Period. 8.2 billion human beings on this little green ball means at least 8.2 billion problems, but it should also mean an equal or greater number of solutions. And isn’t the role of government to find solutions and solve problems? I guess it depends on who you talk to, but let me tell you about question #7 on my recent Electricity Report assignment in Physical Science.
“You have just been elected US Energy Secretary, what three laws would you make to decrease energy prices.”
- Move toward reducing all fossil fuels: Gas, oil, plastic.
- Redo American Infrastructure using primarily sustainable technology.
- Monitor/Restrict tech development: AI research and datacenters, screens, educational/entertainment uses.
Now, these aren’t necessarily the right answers; they are what I would do. I would give full credit to the student who said, “Drill baby drill, give tax breaks to the rich, support fossil fuels, defund the green new scam,” as an answer, but nobody said that because it’s bananas.
I was gone for a few days recently and the substitute’s plans in art were creating a watercolor and acrylic painting of an inspirational government figure. Engagement was good, but beyond MLK, Obama, and Trump (Love him or hate him, he does inspire), results were pretty middling. Most students don’t know who Bernie or AOC or Desantis or Abbott or even Gavin are. This is a big part of the problem. I believe it’s a result of the box-checking, screen-focused generation that has difficulty thinking and contemplating for extended periods of time and is almost apolitical; much more interested in Insta and Snap and TikTok than politics. Because, again, it doesn’t matter.
I also believe that America – and kids – want better, but they don’t know how to get it. That’s where the cognitive dissonance comes in. We are the wealthiest nation in the world but the care of our people is not great. We see things like poverty and homelessness and mental illness and injustice, but we don’t know where to begin to change. Seven million at the No Kings rallies is outstanding, but when a third of the country rebrands it the “Hate America” rally, there’s a problem.
Change starts with the realization that things are not working, then you have to do the work to get them working. Get a pad, make a list and start following it. Mine started with deleting Facebook – which I loved because it was easy and entertaining and kept me in contact with 500 followers who I wouldn’t have contact with any other way. But I can’t rage against Meta while posting on Meta, so bye-bye Zuck, I can’t support you because you are no longer in line with my values. No more cognitive dissonance.
Things will get much worse if we continue to think that government doesn’t matter. We are in an especially dark time, but I don’t need to tell you that. What I do need to say is that we are in charge, we wake up each day and decide if we are going to follow our values or compromise them. We have the power to change things, to fight against what we know is wrong. We also have plenty of leaders who know this but are not providing the exit sign out of the dark room.
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