Following on from my previous post bemoaning the ongoing dumbing down in some Christian circles (see also Thinking about Thinking) I found this excellent quote that sums up very well the problems that arise when we treat people as incapable of understanding as we understand, in this instance in relation to the dumbing down of language.
"It is easy to choose to dumb down when you are suitably equipped with all the skills and tools you need to navigate your way around the language. What tends to be forgotten is that those who are 'dumbed down' to, have no choice but to take the educational mane that is offered them. Those encouraged to take this inferior educational diet will never hope to achieve the literacy skills that their 'dumbing down' masters already possess. To sum up, a student once said to me,: 'I want to know what you know.'"
(Anonymous quote from a former teacher, cited in John Humphrys' book, Lost for Words, Hodder & Staughton, 2004)
If we are not prepared to share fully with others what we know and continue to learn guess what? They will go elsewhere and find substance without truth, satisfaction without a Saviour and challenge without the change of the new birth.
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