I donut niid edukashun; I hab kommon cents

Editor’s Note: The following is being published as a series due to its length.

“…I have common sense”: The first half of this sentence has often been “I don’t need education;…” This is interesting to me. It is interesting to me because the breadth and depth of our common sense is in direct proportion to the amount of information we know. It works like this: Information is the foundation for other things. It is not “power” as some have said for if it were, if information were power, then the world would be ruled by librarians (those with access to so much information). Building on information is the world of understanding. The best working definition I’ve come across is “The ability to see into the true nature of things, people, and situations.” But it is the third, wisdom, that makes a difference in our lives and in our world. Wisdom is the correct, the right application of information and understanding. A bank employee learning of a depositor’s bank balance and understanding how their friend can make use of it and tells that friend isn’t exercising wisdom—it’s a breach of confidentiality, bank policy, and the law.
The method we’ve devised to accelerate the gaining of knowledge (and, to some degree, understanding) is education. That’s right! Education is the accelerated path to knowledge. Without it, our so-called common sense is extremely limited. In fact, in Guam, that common sense is often referred to as “kommon sense” (toilet sense).

For years, real farmers were considered to be the profession of common sense. Now, they too realize that, to stay alive, they and their kids need to beef up their education. Fields are no longer leveled by “eyeball and landmarks” but by lasers and GPS coordinates. The soil was “good” if it felt, smelled, and (for some) tasted good. Now, an analysis is needed at the micro-component level and those areas of the field lacking micronutrients have them dispersed by a computer-controlled machine exactly where it’s needed. And what is the difference of doing this or not? Loss or profit.

Now, in agriculture, one seed is planted at a time by computer with a puff of air placing it at a specified depth in the soil for optimum growth and without seed loss. Before, seed was dropped by gravity, covered in a separate process, then later the farmer would thin the row realizing that he had wasted a lot of seed and extra time covering and thinning.

To be continued

Arnold J. Mesa
Chinatown