One of the first things I want to discuss with whoever might be reading this blog are what classes I think people should take in college. I say college because these classes tend not to be offered until you are in college. This is not to say that if you are not in college you should not try to educate yourself in these subjects. The internet is vast and can offer you more than a rudimentary understanding of any of these subjects. In the end it is up to you to educate yourself, regardless of whether you are currently attending an institution of higher learning. So I encourage everyone to learn about the following:
1. Logic.
I am constantly appalled by the quantity of faulty reasoning and outright logical fallacies I see in the modern media. In order to make an effective argument you have to convince someone to accept your point of view on the subject. To do this you need to craft an argument that is effective in getting your point across, that demonstrates a clear understanding of the subject and that is convincing. Logic is the main tool in rhetoric and communication for doing this.
Logic in its most basic sense is a way to organize your thoughts, assumptions, propositions and conclusions so that it is easy for a reader to follow how you reached a certain conclusion and evaluate whether your reasoning has validity and that the conclusion follows with a certain degree of necessity from the assumptions and propositions. Without this frame work it is quite difficult to evaluate whether a person has adequate support for their opinions on a subject. If a person can not evaluate your reasoning, they will see no reason to believe your conclusions are correct.
So, when in college or otherwise, please do everyone a favor and take a course or two on logic and logical argument. It will make you a much more effective communicator.
2. Math and Statistics.
In my college career, the only math instruction I got was in connection with my study of economics. In hindsight this was a mistake. While my high school mathematics education was quite thorough, it did not include calculus. This came back to bite me in the ass when I had to take a class on economic statistics. It took a great amount of effort on my part to overcome my lack of knowledge and get a good grade in this class. It would have been much better had I buckled down and taken a calculus course beforehand.
But more than just my personal trials and travails, a basic understanding of mathematics is important in everyday life. This is especially true when it comes to evaluating statistics. Everyday in the media we are bombarded with studies that promote all sorts of propositions that are not necessarily supported by the raw data produced by the study. In order to evaluate the quality of the conclusions of the study, you will have to be able to evaluate the raw data and the statistical manipulation that was used on that data to reach the conclusion. If you do not have a basic understanding of math and statistics, you will be unable to do this.
This is where the expressions "there are lies, damn lies and statistics" come from.
Questionable use of data and statistical analysis can be used to support all sorts of hair brained ideas. Without being able to understand what was done, you will be more likely to believe the faulty study's conclusions.
4. Economics.
So much of modern politics and our economy are described in terms of economics and economic reasoning that it is imperative for everyone of voting age to have a basic understanding of economics. By this I mean not only the basic principles of this school of thought, but also its short comings and underlying assumptions. All too often I hear news reporters in particular trotting out economic reasoning that belies their conclusion. Because they do not fully (or at all) understand economics, their reasoning and predictions of the economic impacts of political policy are often demonstrably false, or at least highly suspect. It makes their entire analysis laughable instead of insightful.
In order for any person to be a responsible voting adult, I believe they should at least be conversant in basic market interactions so that they have some idea what the economic impact of their decisions will (possibly) be. Also, so that when someone is making an argument based on economic reasoning, that they are able to spot the holes in the person's arguments and form their own opinions on the subject. No one should be accepting on blind faith that the person describing certain economic interactions has any idea what they are talking about.
5. Science.
I don't care whether it is chemistry, biology, geology, physics or what have you, you should take a few courses in basic science so that you are familiar with the scientific method and the general terminology used in scientific endeavors. This will allow you to read scientific studies and evaluate the data and theories presented in an intelligent fashion and form your own ideas about how reliable the information is.
Far too frequently I observe people taking as truth the theory of some crack pot scientist with an ax to grind without evaluating the data or having any knowledge about competing schools of thought. Learning about science and the scientific method will give you the ability to evaluate these studies and form your own educated opinions about them.
More over, science has become rife with entrenched viewpoints. Scientists have serious economic incentives to prove that their theories are correct and their opponents are wrong in the modern world. Patents, teaching positions and other lucrative endeavors depend on it. This creates incentives for scientists to make the data fit the theory instead of making the theory fit the data. Fortunately we still exist in a world where peer review is alive and well so that we can refute crack pot theories. But without a basic understanding of science, you might not understand why peer review is important let alone whether you should be accepting the conclusion of some new study.
Conclusion.
If you have read all of the above, congratulations, it was not necessarily the most fascinating discussion. The common theme that all of these subjects share is that having knowledge of them better lets you evaluate other people's assertions and arguments such that you can form your own opinions about the world.
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