You're not sure how it happened, but you've stumbled into a conversation about a controversial issue with someone. It might be a stranger, a friend or a family member, but it all goes south when it turns out the two of you have opposing views. Try as you might to prevent it, the polite conversation begins to heat up and no matter how substantial the evidence supporting your claims is, the other person is not even considering what you have to say—and you aren't exactly open to the evidence they are providing either. Inevitably, the conversation turns into an argument that hurts your relationship and doesn't change anyone's mind. Sound familiar?

For most people, the way they are raised and the values they are taught growing up shape many of the beliefs and stances they hold coming into adulthood. While being given a foundation of beliefs is an absolutely essential part of functioning in society, a problem forms when we are taught to be dogmatic and unchanging in these beliefs, preventing moral growth in both the personal and societal sphere. When hearing opposing information becomes a cause for offense and immediate disregard, rather than cause to investigate the truth behind the claims, a person no longer concerned with what is right or wrong and instead aligns with a dogma which they never question, regardless of whether or not it is correct or effective.

Knowing both sides of an issue is becoming increasingly rare, as people are inclined to seek out information that supports their own bias, not educating themselves on the whole story because they either fear the debunking of their own beliefs,or are so convinced of their own beliefs that they cannot take seriously any evidence against them. Blindly believing the information we want to hear and discrediting any information we don’t is a problem on all sides of every issue, creating issues that are polar and leaving people too uneducated about societal issues to create effective solutions.

This form of ethics building creates people who favor ignorance over being proven incorrect, as being proven wrong is a personal attack rather than an opportunity to grow and better your understanding of an issue. Rather than teaching people that it is okay to be wrong and that changing your mind isn’t a self-betrayal, but rather an opportunity to learn and move toward effective solutions, our current system drives people into the darkness of ignorance and blind adhesion to a stance out of nothing but pride. In a day and age where a person would rather not know all of the facts to avoid being proven wrong, it is hard to expect the daunting issues of our time to ever be effectively solved. Ignorance of facts and polarized stances create arguments which lead to wounded egos and bitter feelings, while educated individuals willing to create new stances rather than adhere to staunch polar beliefs create civil discussions which lead to constructive ideas and solutions.

Ignorance is the most daunting issue facing our society today because it prevents the creation of solutions in all other issues. A person who doesn’t know all aspects of an issue is not a person who can be expected to engage in creating an effective solution and therefore, by censoring what information we learn in an effort to protect our fragile beliefs, we breed a cycle of ignorance which prevents solutions from ever being created. If we do not alter the way we teach our children to create beliefs and teach them that there is no shame in changing their mind, that being proven wrong is just an opportunity to become right and that debating a topic and sharing facts is not a form of attack but rather a way to work toward solutions, we will forever be doomed to this cycle of argumentative, prideful ignorance which enables other societal problems to fester.