I often times believe that because people go to the same schools and have similar educational experiences, that they would tend to think alike rather than think differently. This comes from experience as most of my closest friends think like I do. However, one particular experience I had at my last job showed me that my assumptions did not always fit.
One of my coworkers had been reading the news on Somali pirates that seized a cargo ship. He was a year older than me and by complete coincidence we had gone to the same high school, same college, and even had the same degree from that college, although he was a grade level above me. So on that day he turns to me and he says: "Eric, did you know that there are still pirates in the world?"
My mouth dropped open and I stared at him for a few seconds trying to think of something to say to him. I ended up with a reply that sounded like: "Um... yeah... not everywhere in the world is the same as us."
He was completely blown away by my statement. He couldn't believe that stuff like pirates existed. Here was a guy who went to the same high school and college as I did. We had similar experiences in our coursework, and yet we clearly didn't see the world in the same way. I'm not saying that he was naive, but he just couldn't grasp the concept that because people in that part of the world are poor, that they resort to stealing from wealthier nations to deal with it.
So when all is said and done, I can't just assume that because somebody went through the same experiences that I did, that they would perceive things the same way I do. Every person receives the lessons learned differently. On top of that, it is the individual experiences beyond our schooling that have shaped our beliefs and our worldview. I traveled outside the country a lot on vacations and I've been to a lot of different places, while my coworker had only been to Taiwan. So perhaps because of that different experience had shaped each of us to the point where he was surprised by the fact that pirates existed and I wasn't.
Considering how connected the world is, it is a little hard to understand that some people still have little knowledge of world situations. It also surprised me that your co-worker had the same education yet he had a very different view of the world. However, I can actually relate to your co-worker. One day at work, someone told me that I looked Egyptian. I asked that person "they still exist?" I know that my question was a dumb comment. However, the only times I heard of Egyptians where when my teacher spoke about the old Egyptian civilization. I think I am a very educated person, but I can sometimes be naïve when it comes to certain things.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is not unusual that not every person has a lot of knowledge about the world. Several years ago, a research showed that some Americans did not know where Iraq was, and some people couldn't even recognize Washington D.C. on the map. So, it is not surprised that someone does not know there are still pirates in the world.
ReplyDeletePeople tend to focus on something closely related to their life, and they may not have the time or interest to know something they consider remote or unimportant to their life.