When I watch the news or read something, I actually THINK about what I’ve heard or read to put it into context. My first question is always “Is this true?” My second question is “Compared to what?” For numbers nerds like me, that means what’s the denominator or percentage.
Natalya Murahkher had a great opinion piece in the NY Post in December addressing this issue. “We’ve created a generation — parents and children alike — paralyzed by numerators without denominators. A single alarming number, stripped of all context, deployed to trigger fear and compliance. And it’s working because we’ve lost the ability to ask the most basic question: compared with what?… An entire generation has lost the ability to contextualize information.“
When people simply accept what they see or hear on the news or Social Media, they are easily manipulated. Or incited.
How do we fix this? Well, something everyone can do is have discussions at the family dinner table. Help your kids see all sides and start putting things into context.
More importantly, we need to restore REAL education. Teach mathematics so students can calculate rates and percentages. Teach history so students can understand patterns and precedents.
We need to restore critical thinking NOW.