Lisa McLendon, the William Allen White professor of Journalism and Mass Communications and the coordinator at the Bremner Editing Center, explained to Bored Panda what might hold some internet users back from double-checking facts, sources, and spelling.

"For spelling, often people don’t even think something might be misspelled and thus don’t know they need to check it," the professor told us in an email.

"Built-in spell-checkers are pretty good at catching typos, but don’t always flag misspelled proper names or the wrong homophone," she said that these programs can struggle to pick up the difference between, say, the words 'affect' and 'effect.'

Meanwhile, when it comes to fact-checking, "sometimes people don’t realize that something they thought they knew is wrong, or that a source they get information from is not reliable, so they don’t think to check."

McLendon continued: "But sometimes, they want it to be true, so even if they see a correction or contradiction, they don’t want to believe they’re wrong, so they don’t pursue a fact-check."

According to the professor, many of the mishaps that we're featuring in this list are what linguists call 'eggcorns': "When people write something like what a word or phrase sounds like, using actual words that kind of maybe make sense."

She explained: "The term started when someone referred to an acorn as an 'eggcorn'—it’s rounded like an egg, and kernel-like similar to corn."

However, so-called 'eggcorns' aren't the same as malapropisms, where you use the wrong word that sounds kind of like the word you mean.

The professor also offered some practical advice for anyone hoping to improve their skills. "For anyone who wants to improve at writing and vocabulary, I say READ! Read good, professional, edited writing across a variety of topics," McLendon told Bored Panda.

"Read fiction, biographies, magazines, newspapers—anything that catches your interest. Reading broadly helps you gain a sense of what good writing looks like and exposes you to new words as well as new meanings of words you may already know," she said.

Referring to a recent Pew Research Center survey from November 2023, Statista reports that there are serious misgivings about the education system in the United States.

As per the survey, 82% of K-12 American public school teachers said that they believe the education system is in a worse state than 5 years ago. Meanwhile, another 11% said that the situation was stagnant.

On the upside, 20% of teachers who were polled were quite optimistic about the future, believing that the next 5 years will bring improvements. But there are serious problems that educators face right now.

Some of the major issues that affect teachers include insufficient pay, shortages of qualified educators, and violence against teachers after the pandemic.

As per Statista, researchers from Annenberg Brown University reported in August 2022 that there were at least 36k vacant educator positions, as well as 163k positions staffed with teachers from either a different field or with underqualified individuals. It’s likely that the real numbers are even bigger.

Meanwhile, NORC, a research organization at the University of Chicago, found in autumn 2022 that 44% of adults would not encourage their children or other young people to become teachers. Low pay (69%), lack of school resources (57%), and a high workload (52%) were among the top reasons.

The Pew Research Center notes that 51% of American adults believe that the public K-12 education system is going in the wrong direction, while a minority (16%) think that it’s right on track.

One of the main issues that adults see with the system (69%) is that not enough time is spent on core academic subjects, such as reading, math, science, and social studies.

Another serious problem with the American education system, according to 52% of respondents from the November 2023 survey, was that schools do not have the funding or resources that they need.

26% of adults said that parents have too much influence in decisions about what schools are teaching. And 54% of respondents noted that they’re worried about teachers bringing their personal political and social views into the classroom.

Proper education doesn’t happen by accident. It’s very much intentional. And the responsibility lies on the shoulders of the education system, the community, the person’s parents, as well as the individual themselves. The reality is that in this day and age, it’s easier than ever to educate yourself in whatever field that you want. Even if you aren’t lucky enough to get a scholarship or can’t afford a college education, there are tons of free courses and resources online.

However, it takes drive, patience, and discipline to take advantage of these opportunities. Not to mention that you have to be perceptive and humble enough to notice that your education might be lacking in certain fields, and that you probably should do something to correct the imbalance.

If you constantly have issues sharing your thoughts in writing or when talking to others, you definitely should find ways to resolve these problems. Good communication is a skill that will never go out of style.

Meanwhile, if you have trouble connecting to other people, you may want to brush up on emotional intelligence, good management practices, leadership, and other fields. Other areas that the average person ought to be reasonably well-versed in include health, fitness, and nutrition; personal finances; media literacy; and the basics of science, history, and proper grammar. Aside from that, you should also be able to take care of yourself and do simple chores, from knowing how to cook and doing the laundry to paying your taxes and budgeting.

Ideally, you should be able to develop all of these skills throughout your childhood, at school. But people’s backgrounds, family situations, teachers, and relationships with education as a whole all differ, so not everyone manages to learn as much as their classmates. Some people inevitably fall behind due to a whole host of different issues.

Recognizing that you’re behind and that it’s worth catching up to your peers is the first step to filling in the most egregious knowledge gaps you have. Of course, let’s not be naive: no matter how much you study, you’ll never be an expert in ‘everything.’ However, you can cover your main bases and then specialize in a handful of niches.

You also have to consider the fact that different experts will almost inevitably have different perceptions of what basic knowledge means. Someone with a PhD in physics will, naturally, think that higher-level math and science skills are vital.

Meanwhile, someone who specializes in medicine, art, agriculture, programming, entertainment, marketing, fitness, management, or literally anything else, will think that society as a whole should value what they value and know things that they know. But, again, we can’t all be experts in all fields. It’s not practical and not feasible.

Which of the comments that we’ve featured in this list gave you the biggest case of secondhand embarrassment? Were there any that physically made you cringe or facepalm? What are, hands down, the dumbest comments or posts you’ve read on social media recently?

How do you think this general lack of education could potentially be tackled, on a social or global scale? We’d love to hear your opinions and ideas. If you have a moment, drop by the comments to share them!