First, an announcement: the new Kindle version of Think Like a Teacher is now out.
Today is the start of app development. The app: Do You Deserve to Vote? It will deal with topics like:
1. Do you have a more-than-basic grasp of English?2. Do you have a more-than-basic education?
3. Can you think logically?
4. How much do you know about civics?
5. Can you pass a basic, stripped-down citizenship test?
6. How much do you know about current politicians' stands on today's major issues?
The app is an expression of my frustration about who exactly deserves to vote in national elections. When I first talked about this question of "deserving to vote," I got pushback in the comments about how my thoughts amounted to something unconstitutional. Fine—I concede all of my commenters' points. Despite the fact that even Thomas Jefferson himself expressed a strong preference for an educated electorate and not a nation of emotionally incontinent morons, I will grant, for the sake of argument, that allowing the morons to vote is somehow healthier for the country as a whole (it isn't, but I'll grant the point anyway). So since I'll never become god-emperor of the US, I am instead making this app to give people an idea of whether—according to quasi-Jeffersonian standards—they really deserve to be casting a vote.
And yes, I realize that the label "quasi-Jeffersonian" may be playing fast and loose with both language and history. I have done no deep research into what exactly Jefferson meant by "educated" when he expressed his preference for an educated electorate. But at a guess, the polymath who founded the University of Virginia would have wanted people to know at least the basics. So when someone asks, "How educated are you?", they're asking both How much do you know? and How well can you think? I think Thomas Jefferson would have agreed with at least that.
To that end, using the above six questions as a guide, I'll be developing a set of twenty or more questions for each topic. Nothing too complicated or abstruse: I won't ask, for example, "What year was the 16th Amendment passed, and what was the amendment about?" (I had to look that up just now.) To give you an example of the questions I would call "basic," watch any KeroNgb video on YouTube. That guy's asking simple stuff like, "How many letters are there in the English alphabet?" and "Name two countries outside of North America" and "How many stripes are on the American flag"? and "How many minutes are in a quarter of an hour?" Basic stuff that any elementary school kid should know.
Making these questions might take me into the beginning of February.
I'm curious how you think stripping the uneducated of the vote would affect the balance of power.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it wouldn't by very much. In fact, this article suggests that, the more educated you are, the more likely you are to vote, so maybe the uneducated are, at most, a minority problem (I'm not sure about that, but maybe). As to whether stripping the voting populace down to the educated would somehow "affect the balance of power," I suspect it wouldn't: my political opposite, educated or not, can still vote the opposite way and thereby nullify my vote. But I would at least be reassured that more depth of thought and wisdom went into the vote, and not just, say, reflexive hatred or blind, heedless zeal. This isn't guaranteed, of course: even educated people can vote emotionally, but if—in the aggregate—we had a generally higher quality of voter, we would at least not have to worry about a whole country being steered by morons. I think this is consistent with Jefferson's vision. So I can't say how the "balance of power" might change—Jefferson's vision guarantees nothing—but I'd be more assured that the people, the demos, at the helm, weren't simply relying on impulse, superficiality, and emotion. Aside from that, let the chips fall where they may.
DeleteI don't disagree with the premise of an educated voter, but I am not sure that results in a electorate that will choose better people. X% (maybe 30%) on each side will vote for their "tribe" regardless of who it is. And there are pretty educated people in that ~60%.
DeleteI roll my eyes all time at the statements and actions of so-called smart people in the current political climate. Primaries and off year elections would seem to be a time where the less informed do not bother to go to the polls. Even then, pretty shitty people still get nominated/elected.
But, maybe that ~40% in the middle can swing general elections are more educated. Hard to say, but an interesting thought exercise.
Brian
Well, as I said, Jefferson's vision offers no guarantees, especially in today's polarized world, but I'd still rather have an electorate of the educated. And I think your point about the fat part of the bell curve (the 40% in the middle) is well taken. One thing that would drop off radically if we selected for level of education is extremism. It wouldn't go down to zero, as you pointed out (and I agreed when I wrote, "even educated people can vote emotionally"), but I suspect that things would be a lot better than they are now.
DeleteIn the meantime, on the local level, like in the blue parts of Texas, idiots elect idiots. On the left, you've got geniuses like Jasmine Crockett, Ilhan Omar, and AOC. On the right, you've got cowardly hypocrites and backstabbers like Lisa Murkowski, Liz Cheney, and John Thune. They all got into office somehow, and even if there was fraud, there were still votes. I think a lot of that would disappear if the educated voted for the educated. No more bartenders, antisemites, and people of dubious marital status.