Resignation to boredom, or knee-jerk attempts to escape it, are similar in that both responses resist reflection on this problem. In a capitalist society, producers often want people to dread boredom and be unreflective about it, so consumption becomes simply a knee-jerk antidote to it. Given the pervasiveness of boredom, the multitude of negative behaviors that are causally linked to it, and the economic system that benefits from it, the problem of boredom merits careful attention, especially in education. When schools graduate students who are unable to endure boredom, and who cannot discern when to accept boredom or when and how to challenge it, then schools have failed to equip…