Here’s a good, pretty deep dissertation as to Why Society Is As It Is Today. If you’re bewildered by just how blindingly stupid so much of society, and its multifarious interactions are, it pays to read it.
Brief Summary: Knowledge is important. This does not mean “education,” but actual knowledge. The author of the essay, one M.D. Aeschliman, pays tribute to E.D Hirsch, a pioneering education reformer who says that we’ve long had a powerful movement in Western society either downplaying the importance of knowledge, or denying that one can have knowledge at all.
This is to our detriment.
It’s a dense and erudite piece, and it’s sometimes really awkwardly written, but well worth the time to read and digest it.
But … only if you want to know why.
— xPraetorius
The Praetorian Writers' Group 
Sheesh, you have to be downright learned to read that piece! Awkward, dense, and erudite, you got that right. 🙂
Education and schooling might as well mean “indoctrination” these days. There’s very little knowledge happening and certainly no wisdom. We aren’t trying to teach people how to think, we’re actually trying to discourage them from thinking at all.
Well said, IB. I wish Aeschliman were able to write as well and clearly as you do.
As you probably know, I’ m a long-time admirer of yours.
Best,
— x