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Frightened Children Won’t Solve the World’s Problems

Frightened Children Won’t Solve the World’s Problems

3 Mins
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April 15, 2019

Bjorn Lomborg’s diagnosis:

Decades of climate-change exaggeration in the West have produced frightened children, febrile headlines, and unrealistic political promises. The world needs a cooler approach that addresses climate change smartly without scaring us needlessly and that pays heed to the many other challenges facing the planet.

Decades indeed. Ten years ago: “One in Three Children Fear Earth Apocalypse.”

And before that, my 1991 (!) The Wall Street Journal article, “Global Problems Are Too Big for Little Kids,” on widespread reports of children coming home from school scared that the world is ending soon. The conclusion:

Frightened or apathetic children are not going to grow into the adults who will be able to solve the world’s problems. Problem-solving requires confidence that solutions can be discovered and a healthy self-esteem about one’s ability to find them. These attitudes require nurturing over a long period of time, on countless small, day-to-day issues. Too much too fast can only destroy them.

Education is about helping children grow into knowledgeable, creative thinkers with emotional resilience and a can-do spirit. The opposite of that is indoctrination that results in young adults oscillating between angry dogmatism and stunted apathy.

The WSJ piece is online in text [pdf] and audio [mp3].

Postmodernism’s contribution: “Why Postmoderns Train—Not Educate—Activists.” Also at The Atlas Society and in Spanish and Portuguese translations.

This article was originally published at Stephen Hicks.org.

Stephen Hicks Ph.D

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Stephen Hicks Ph.D

Stephen R. C. Hicks PH.D. is the Senior Scholar for the Atlas Society, Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University, and the director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Rockford University. In 2010, he won his university's Excellence in Teaching Award. Professor Hicks has written four books; Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, Nietzsche and the Nazis, Entrepreneurial Living, and The Art of Reasoning: Readings for Logical Analysis.

Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.
About the author:
Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Stephen R. C. Hicks es investigador principal de The Atlas Society y profesor de filosofía en la Universidad de Rockford. Tambien es el director del Centro de Ética y Emprendimiento de la Universidad de Rockford.

Es autor de El arte de razonar: lecturas para el análisis lógico (W. W. Norton & Co., 1998), Explicando el posmodernismo: escepticismo y socialismo de Rousseau a Foucault (Beca, 2004), Nietzsche y los nazis (La navaja de Ockham, 2010), Vida emprendedora (CHEF, 2016), Ventajas y desventajas del liberalismo (Connor Court, 2020), Art: modern, posmodern and more beyond (con Michael Newberry, 2021) Ocho filosofías de la educación (2022). Ha publicado en Ética empresarial trimestral, Metafísica review, y El Wall Street Journal. Sus escritos se han traducido a 20 idiomas.

Ha sido profesor visitante de Ética Empresarial en la Universidad de Georgetown en Washington, D.C., becario visitante en el Centro de Filosofía y Política Social de Bowling Green (Ohio), profesor visitante en la Universidad de Casimir el Grande (Polonia), becario visitante en el Harris Manchester College de la Universidad de Oxford (Inglaterra) y profesor visitante en la Universidad Jagellónica (Polonia).

Sus títulos de licenciatura y maestría son de la Universidad de Guelph, Canadá. Su doctorado en Filosofía lo obtuvo en la Universidad de Indiana, Bloomington (EE. UU. UU.).

En 2010, ganó el Premio a la Excelencia en la Enseñanza de su universidad.

Su Serie de podcasts Open College es una publicación de Posiblemente Correct Productions, Toronto. Sus videoconferencias y entrevistas están disponibles en línea en Canal de vídeo CEE, y su sitio web es Stephenhicks.org.


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