I am linking to a site I rarely visit, The Montana Post, run by award-winning high school English teacher Don Pogreba. “Pogie,” as he is known, is famous for the following exemplary form of argumentation … this a conversation I am making up but have experienced nonetheless:
Anyone anywhere: “But Pogie, I’ve got it right here that you’re wrong.”
Pogie: “What’s your source?”
AA: “It’s some research done from a book that was cited on a blog, Piece of Mindful.”
Pogie: That’s not reliable. I want the New York Times, Washington Post, CBS News, otherwise I don’t believe it.”
AA: But Pogie, that’s not the point. You’ve got to look at the material and judge it using your own brain.”
Pogie: “Get real. Give me a reliable source.”
This has long been my beef with Pogie, and maybe with modern education in general – he does not teach thinking. He teaches students to use other people’s brains instead of their own. The result is seen all around us, the masked masses, clueless as to why they are in such garb.