Steve wrote an article the other day about listening. It inspired me to write this article about Thinking.

I am learning so much in this advanced stage of my life! At least it seems that way to me. Amazingly, I am learning it from my very unsophisticated village neighbors. I feel that a lot of them have not had the opportunity to learn how to Think. You learn most of that skill in a classroom environment, and these people are severely deprived in that regard. Schools here are very poorly established, with few text books, large student/teacher ratios, and poor teacher competence. And, as cheap as it is, attending school is beyond the financial means of most Filipino rural families.

There is the ridiculous requirement for uniforms, which is nothing more than a ripoff run by some relative of the school master, requiring every student to get a uniform, or two.

Then there is transportation. There is no school transport provided; it is up to the student.

The short life expectancy here results in the need for the sons to stay home to work to support the family, as the health of the father fails him. Similarly, the mother needs help around the house from her daughters.

Religious dogma discouraging birth control. Do I need to elaborate on this subject to describe the results of it?

These factors plus many others, result in most students dropping out after 3-4 years. Imagine a society with an average of 3 years of schooling. (I don't know the actual numbers on this, but I expect it would be pretty grim, if you could get a truthful figure from government.)

So the result is that the society is one which severely lacks self confidence. Asked a question, the answer is seldom if ever, "I don't know". That would admit weakness. So questions are intensely disliked, even hated. Therefor no one ever asks a question. Such a question is commonly met with silence. Can you imagine how devastating that is when it comes to expanding one's knowledge? It guarantees perpetual ignorance.

The inability to confidently answer a question fosters prevarication. And a loss of confidence on the part of the questioner. It is very sad. Being turned away from the Visa Window of the US Embassy is the usual result, since it is extremely difficult to outsmart the visa examiner in determining when the applicant is lying, or not.

If one develops the ability to Think, to use one's mental power to understand a situation and formulate an appropriate way to handle it, one would be much better equipped to handle a difficult question, and it would be unnecessary to say anything other than the truth.

I have few demands on my time beyond trading equity options in the NY markets every day (I should say night). So I think of this and wonder if there is any merit to my thesis. If there is, I wish that the upper crust in power in Manila would think about this. There is that word again - think. I'm not holding my breath. I believe that the upper crust likes it the way it is!

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