Communication Basics: Making it Silly Proof

There was a saying when I was in school that a teacher or a coach needed to make things "moron-proof". This type of language doesn't pass the grade any longer.  But I do think that it is important to make things "silly proof".  We should simplify things (not too far to the point of being naive) in most cases down to a level where silly mistakes can be avoided.

You can have a PhD from Harvard or Yale or even Stanford and still fail the silly proof test  If I were to ask you right now the big five kinds of categories and the big five emotions, you would likely fail the test.  [Take a moment and write them down].   If you look elsewhere into this blog you will find all ten.  What was your score out of 10?  Unless you cheated, I know you did not score well.  That goes for those with PhDs.

This is purely silly.  Shouldn't every speaker of English know the basic 5 of each and possess the ability to add the next five as well.  But we don't.

We continue to practice education that is not silly proof. We tolerate silly answers to silly questions.  My question is not silly.  I am asking you, "What are your basics in intelligence?"  What is silly is that you can go through 5 levels of education (each about 4 years long) and so put in nearly 20 years of school education and still make silly intellectual errors.

Let's start producing silly-proof intellects in the United States at least and watch the silly mistakes melt before the mind's ability to do its job.


Sincerely,

Jon

P.S. The Dummy and Idiot series of books proves my point, if nothing else does.  They are insulting titles that people still need at the PhD level.  That's silly.

first noted probably around April 2014