After writing these articles for a bit more than a semester now, I’m happy to say that almost every week I have someone approach me with comments on that week’s subject. I’ve had everybody from students from the EU zone comment on my views on the EU constitution to members of presidential think tanks giving their response to my opinion on the Bush Library debate.
This is encouraging, but for every student that approaches me with comments, at least three say that they enjoyed reading the article but had no idea what I was talking about.
I’m not insinuating that people are unintelligent (in fact, I’m not the best student when it comes to academics); I’m merely saying that people don’t have a requisite working knowledge of the issues that are shaping our time.
Do not mistake my intentions for a moment. I am not writing to harp on the “shameful apathy” of college students, this “decidedly uncaring” generation. It is not apathy, for apathy connotes a decision having been made to not care about an issue. To make that decision one must have been exposed to the affair and rejected any involvement with it.
To be sure, there are many who simply don’t prioritize these issues; they think that the trends are important but not entirely interesting. This is fine. I know that my interest in these affairs is fairly nerdy and, as some of my friends have told me, somewhat weird. But the truth still remains: Many college students are unaware of global trends and discussions that will shape our world.
The importance of this cannot be understated. In everything I have read, seen, heard and experienced, I have come to the conclusion that we are at a tipping point, and momentum is already carrying us forward.
The increasing liquidity of global capital and access to previously untapped labor forces hold unimaginable benefits for the global population, chief among them respite from poverty. Poverty is one of the most fundamental global problems that needs to be addressed.
Those who are economically destitute have no hope for the future, so they turn to martyrdom for radical Islam. Those who cannot afford clean water or sanitation die by the thousands of curable diseases. Scarce resources and a lack of free and open institutions force societies to war with each other. Lack of access to cheap and clean technology requires harmful and dangerous processes to continue to destroy the environment and endanger the health of the poor.
To quote The Economist, “Far from being the greatest cause of poverty, globalization is the only feasible cure.”
Hand in hand with globalization must be the much-aligned spread of democracy. People cannot take full advantage of the opportunities available to them unless they can decide the future of their country and hold their leaders accountable. The best method of spreading democracy is still up in the air; I certainly don’t have all the answers even though I often act like I do.
These are all basic facts that everyone should know; they are essential to understanding the current shape of things and where our world will be 10, 20, 50 years down the road.
Yet it seems that few students on campus have even a working knowledge of that which will dominate every aspect of our lives, from job searches and career choices to where you take your vacations to whether you have another kid because you can’t afford the gasoline to drive to soccer practice every weekend.
Rather than just reading my articles, I much prefer engaging in interesting discussions, so I encourage you to contact me. I would be happy to listen to any opinions on the matter; substantive discourse is vital to advancing new ideas and our own intellectual development. My e-mail is listed at the bottom of this article.
Finally, I firmly believe that this generation is as great as any other and indeed has many opportunities that previous generations could only wish for. We have the opportunity to reduce poverty, spread democracy and raise standards of living everywhere. To even begin to take the first steps, though, we must educate ourselves.
About the writer:
John Jose is a first-year finance, economics, and international studies major. He can be reached at [email protected].
