A show of ignorance
In 1821, the Greeks defeated the Italians. Giorgios Karaiskakis went down in history for building the Karaiskaki soccer stadium [not for fighting against the Turks]. An old German who later became a Greek [rather than Bishop Germanos of Patras] declared the 1821 War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire. These are just a few of the things we have heard over the past few days – and unfortunately we hear similar things every year – from children who were asked about the meaning of Monday’s anniversary. The basic question was what do Greeks celebrate on that day, and the above answers were given to the television camera, spontaneously, without a second thought, with unbelievable levity and giggling. Let’s accept that the people questioned comprise a small minority of our youth; that the sample selected was not random, so as to make the report appear more striking; that we still receive some minimal education. But what has to be pointed out as a major cause for concern is the apathy and indifference of young men and women toward their own ignorance. The same conclusion can be drawn from the various TV quiz shows. Players who have supposedly attained at least an average level of education compete in public, exposing their supposed erudition to friends, acquaintances and millions of spectators. It has been proved, however, that a large percentage of those players should not just abstain from such quiz shows but rather should do everything to avoid such exposure. This is because their would-be displays of literacy often produce a painful public demonstration of their illiteracy. In the past, when we went to school unprepared we felt guilty. We were afraid that the teacher might disclose our ignorance to our fellow pupils. We knew that a wrong answer would trigger laughter in the classroom and result in our being ridiculed for a long time. We thus preferred to remain silent in our embarrassment rather than admit our ignorance. Today, people don’t just believe they have no reason to feel inferior about their illiteracy or try to conceal it; instead, they promote it and subject it to public judgment. Perhaps they believe that the majority of people watching these programs possess the same modicum of education as they do. Hence, nothing appears reprehensible. The older among us wish to believe that this is not the case; at least not yet.
