Book: The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters by Tom Nichols…
I’ve added this book to the SPARK resources because it talks about some of the pitfalls which can negatively impact the advancement of learning. It also illuminates the rarity of a self taught expert.
SPARK was an idea I hoped would help people with limited direction explore themselves, their dreams, their aspirations and build skills which would help them get to where they were going. I think there is a lot of disdain for higher educational facilities and I myself have often felt that disdain.
My own disdain comes from issues of conscious. I struggled with the idea of how institutions of learning propagate ideas which continue to build a society in which my conscious has no peace.
Over years and years of self study, I’ve learned the importance of institution in the development of individuals, learning, and most importantly peer review, which allows for new thoughts and ideas (if they are new at all) to be challenged and honed.
Education is one of the most important requirements for overcoming poverty; this is true for both poverty in physical environment, poverty in mind or poverty of spirit.
As I’ve continued on in my own journey toward developing methods of overcoming poverty, I realize I have fallen back on ideas created by experts in a variety of fields. More importantly I’ve learned that in the process of developing this project, that I have in fact taken on roles similar to traditional training in specific fields.
The system I am attempting to develop may be slightly different from other systems in use today but it will still fall back on traditional institutions of learning for their experts and expertise.
I may formally challenge an idea here or there but in reality the work continues by adding to and challenging the work which has already been done.
What I’ve found in most cases of my study, is that I am more or less working on ways to improve individuals access to institutional programs that already exist.
For those who don’t have a high school diploma the GED (General Education Development) is an available tool. In New York State this is now the TASC. These tests lead to high school equivalency diplomas.
Yet, most individuals do not take the steps to raise themselves out of poverty without the help of a variety of experts. It is rare that a person of their own volition without a great deal of support will grow beyond their state of poverty.
Overcoming poverty is such complicated process we still don’t really know how to do it but there are some hopeful projects in existence like EMPath or Economic Mobility Pathways.
What I have found on my own journey toward a poverty solution, is that my ideas are developed on the back of experts with some real world street level knowledge about how humans function.
Social business was built by a man trained in economics. Mobility Pathways was built by a woman who trained in social work.
SPARK will definitely be part of a system which helps individuals learn and grow given their own proclivities but it won’t upend the institutions of experts, it will just be another tool to help people learn and grow.
In the meantime. The Death Of Expertise remains a very good book which helps emphasize the importance of expertise and why we shouldn’t always recreate the wheel. There is a lot of learning to do before new ideas can be developed or old ideas improved on.
