Logic seems like something we’ve taken for granted in North America. Yes, people entering the workforce boast of exceptional logic skills on resumes, but it is never considered something that people simply do not have.
I have been in South Africa for over a month and I have seen how many problems at the economic, business, and functioning level of the community revert back to education, or lack thereof. Even people that have been through to matric, which is the equivalent of graduating high school in Canada, seem to be lacking simple logic which baffles me.
One example would be with the gentleman that offered to drive all the student participants to and from work every day. The set price was 30R for a round trip, paid 2 weeks in advance. Therefore, at the start of each 2 week period we were instructed to pay 300R. Well myself, and Monica started receiving rides home from work from our boss which was a very kind gesture. Therefore, when we went to pay the cab driver we logically only paid him 150R. Most people can deduce that if 30R is the cost of a roundtrip and you are only utilising half of that round trip, then your cost would be 15R. Not here. This gentleman did not logically get the concept of only utilizing half of his services, and paying half. He claimed that we are paying for the service, in its entirety, whether or not we choose to use it. I tried explaining to him the concept of a taxi and if you do not get in and go from point A to point B in the taxi, you do not have to pay for that taxi. Here, I saw a lack of logic.
My next example happened just last week. One of our colleges here in the finance and admin building is working on getting haemoglobin strips for the Phelang Clinic. The first quote she received was 270R a packet, which contained 25 strips. Then the quote changed to 419R a packet, which was reason for concern because of the vast differences in prices. She decided to call the pharmacist who owns the company who would not even give her a quote, claiming that she had to make the order before being given the prices. She explained how this did not make sense because she is not going to commit to buying something before knowing how much it costs. Now only is this another lack of logical thinking, but now this man has lost business and potential recommendations, which again, apparently he doesn`t understand.
Hence, the lack of logic and learning that is more ubiquitous than I first realized.