Imagine you have a lawn full of dandelions. You could, of course, spend every weekend meticulously mowing over them, keeping your lawn looking deceptively pristine. But guess what? Those dandelions are laughing at you. Their roots run deep, and by next week, they’ll be back, probably with reinforcements.
This is exactly how we approach most problems in life. We trim the symptoms instead of pulling out the root cause. It looks good in the short term, but the problem never really goes away.
Let me try to explain what I mean in three important areas: medicine, education, and online safety.
Meet Bob: he loves cheeseburgers, fries, and a milkshake to wash it all down. Bob also has high blood pressure, acid reflux, and a cholesterol level that could double as concrete mix. What does Bob do? He takes a daily cocktail of pills. Problem solved, right?
Except…not really. Instead of addressing his diet and lifestyle (i.e., the root cause), Bob just keeps slapping on pharmaceutical band-aids. Eventually, his body will stage a full-scale rebellion, but hey, at least he doesn’t have to give up his bacon-wrapped deep-fried butter sticks.
School should be about learning, right? Developing critical thinking skills, imparting knowledge, fostering curiosity, and preparing kids for real life? Life skills such as dealing with emotions and keeping control on your finances? Good one, who needs those in Incel era…
Instead, we often focus on test scores. Low literacy rates? No problem; just focus on rote memorization, rely on repetitive drills, or emphasize rigid standardized testing rather than fostering genuine comprehension and critical thinking. And don’t even consider the fact that it might be a teacher who is incapable of inspiring the pupils because that in itself is going to cause a whole raft of problems with the new employment laws.
It’s like giving students a bucket to bail out water from a sinking boat instead of patching the hole. Sure, they might keep afloat for a while, but eventually, down they go, clutching their perfectly standardized test scores as they sink into the depths of workplace unpreparedness and human relationships.
Kids are glued to social media, where they face cyberbullying, predators, and the occasional cult recruitment ad. Parents panic, so they install a monitoring app and check their child’s phone like an overzealous FBI agent. But the real problem? Nobody is teaching kids digital literacy, critical thinking, or healthy tech boundaries.
So, the kids just find workarounds. They get burner accounts, use disappearing messages, or, if they’re particularly crafty, convince their parents that OF is for sport fans. The dangers persist, because instead of addressing the root issue (teaching kids how to navigate the internet safely), we just try to keep up with an ever-changing digital landscape using duct tape and another app.
You can’t just mow over dandelions and expect them to disappear. If you want real solutions, you have to dig deeper, get your hands dirty, and address the cause, not just the symptoms. Bob needs to eat a vegetable or two, schools need to prioritize real learning over test scores, and society needs to teach kids online responsibility rather than just setting up more digital fences.
Because in the end, it’s a lot easier to prevent problems than to spend your life desperately trying to manage their consequences, unless, of course, you just really enjoy mowing dandelions every weekend and annoying Steve next door with your perfectly mowed lawn.
Photo by Viridi Green
