Rational Discussions

I'm considering adding "rational" to the mission statement. Some are asking to themselves, "Is he crazy? What about tradition?" Perhaps this kind dramtic change with such high stakes will keep you reading. I'm sure the title scared away the weak of heart.

My reply is that we're not here to support dogma. I can hear the gasps and sighs of disbelief.

Since rational will be hard to define this might build the tension needed to maintain readers. In other words, there nothing like calling another person "irrational" to get a good fight going. Really, try it sometime.

Everyone thinks they are behaving rationally. Just like everyone thinks they're a good driver. Try this one too. Go ahead and ask the next car owner whether they're a good driver. Whether they drive too slow or lost their license from speeding or crashed numerous times, most people truly think they're the good driver.

Rational is not even subjective but people perceive themselves to be rational even when no one really is rational. How can we as humans be truly rational? Don't we all have a few things we value or believe in that we can't really explain? If we can't explain or express it, then we can hardly be rational about it.

However, that doesn't mean we can't have a rational discussion about things. In other words, once we start discussing a topic and someone say, "Well, that's just what I believe" then reason stops. We have crossed over into the land of metaphysics. Of course we can talk rationally about metaphysics but things inside the metaphysical just "is."

People might believe I'm attacking faith or religion. Let me make this clear. Faith and religion can be rational. There is no inherent contradiction between faith and reason.

So lets tie this with citizen journalism and education news. No one will be the judge of rational and irrational. I just hope people will keep “rational” in mind when writing about education.

My personal belief is that schools should teach rational thinking. Let faith be taught outside of schools. Not that there is no place for faith in America but simply not in our schools. Public schools should develop the mind. I believe, for an aesthetic reason not a rational reason, that education is about logic and proof.

Some may ask, “How can you teach morality without faith?” Love and caring can be rational, in fact it might be even better when understanding is involved. But this is getting way off the subject.

Like I wrote earlier, “rational" can cause a lot of tension and drama. Hopefully this drama will spice up the topic of education.

For a quick update: I'm still reading a bunch of articles and researching “citizen journalism.” This is just transparency in the strategy of hopefully getting and retaining readers.

What’s your thought? Please leave a comment; maybe we’ll start a dialogue.