Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

In the midst of the COVID 19 pandemic, there was a news story recently about a family that had been kicked off a United Airlines airplane because their two-year old child refused to keep its mask on. This violated United Airlines’ policy requiring that all passengers wear masks even though I don’t believe you’ll find any studies suggesting that two-year-old toddlers are among the super-spreaders of the virus. The news commentator opined that the supervisor that did the kicking, who also banned the family from United for life, should have used some “common sense.” The incident has become high profile and will likely cause a few headaches for United’s PR people. This is not the first time United has caused a high-profile PR disaster by their lack of sound judgment. Anyone remember the You Tube music video called “United Breaks Guitars” from 2009 Musician David Carroll wrote and posted the song after the airline arrogantly refused to pay him for damages after his Taylor guitar was broken during a United flight. The music video, performed by Carroll, is currently at nearly twenty and one-half million views, depicts United handlers playfully throwing guitars and other luggage back and forth to each other while flight attendants ignore the complaints. The lyrics also speak of how employees told him the claim was going nowhere. If I remember correctly, I think United made good on the claim after the first few million views. 

Defining Common Sense 

One definition of common sense I found is “good sense and sound judgment in practical matters.” United Airlines did not show sound judgment in either matter; eleven years ago, or just the other day. The lack of “good sense” in today’s society is so pervasive, perhaps we should start a movement to change the phrase to “uncommon” instead of common sense. I believe this has come about after about a hundred years of taking the play out of childhood and the schools not really challenging youth to figure out how the world really works; i.e. practical matters. We wait until college to encourage (related to uncommon sense) critical thinking—the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment—when learning critical thinking at an early age would serve people in a much better way. We now have large numbers of adults in our society that lack uncommon sense and critical thinking skills. This include many of our politicians and policy makers. 

To Mask of Not To Mask 

I am not a no masker. I did not make my decision to wear a mask because of politicians telling me I should. The decision was not because the experts told us all to wear a mask, even though in the beginning they told us all not to wear one. My decision was made as a result of my own uncommon sense and critical thinking. I believe that as we talk, laugh, sing and yell, tiny droplets of liquid come out of our mouths. I can see it in certain kinds of light. I also believe in the idea that coronavirus can spread when saliva from one person contacts another. It makes sense to me that wearing a mask will stop most of the saliva coming from the wearer’s mouth. Therefore, I believe if two people within six feet of each wear a mask, there is little chance the virus will be passed from one to the other. We require masks in the Fab Lab, not only because it is school policy, but also because it seems logical. 

Politicians have told us from the start of the pandemic to “follow the science.” Yet, they come up with policies and rules not really supported by science, but they want us to follow them anyway. The California governor bans outdoor dining when it is illogical that outdoor dining is a big spreader of the virus. Across the street from a closed outdoor restaurant, a massive outdoor, tent-covered dining area provided the NBC network a place to feed the cast and crew of a network show. That was perfectly okay. In New York, politicians arbitrarily draw two amebae-shaped zones on Staten Island. In one zone, bars must close, but in the other zone, one and one-half blocks away, open bars are just fine. This illogical thinking will cause many businesses to go out of business even when they are not big “spreaders.” 

Many of rules and guidelines of this pandemic have been inconsistent, ambiguous and unfairly applied. Few of the experts, scientists and politicians have admitted their mistakes, rather just changing their stories without much explanation, admonishing us to just follow the rules. All has made a case that common sense—good sense and sound judgment in practical matters—is not common. 

How To Make Common Sense Common Again 

It’s probably too late for many politicians and policy makers. Today’s toxic political environment is not conducive to developing “common” sense and critical thinking.  Starting with youth, once we get them back to school after the pandemic, we need to continue to offer more experiential learning that we’re seeing in some schools. In her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” Dr. Carol Dweck presents an understanding of growth vs fixed mindset. People with a growth mindset will tend to have what we would call common sense and an ability to do critical thinking. 

Jim Correll can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of Fab Lab ICC or Independence Community College. Archive columns and podcasts at www.fablabicc.org.