I can't buy into objectivity's ideas of capital-T Truth. And I don't mean this flippantly, I just mean how can there be no address of context? Capital-T truth depends on absolutes without variations, leaving no room for exceptions. I think this is my humanities background being insufferably resistant to the idea that there can be incontestable and immutable truths that hold steady across the board, like some kind of super theory of super everything.
It doesn't take into account the variations found at the intersections of context. For example, a 21st century capital-T truth: everyone needs a college education because it will make you successful. Well, yes and no: what about the populations that can't come close to achieving a college education, or, for whom even trying to pursue one run the risk of further entrenching themselves within the impoverishment they come from? Students who can't afford to go to college because they don't have the few thousand in tuition to begin with, nor can they even afford to take out loans to do so because they're already financially in the negatives once one examines their background, neighborhood structures, household situation, and other external forces within the framework of their existence that already, through no fault of their own, position them at a disadvantage? These are students for whom a college education can ruin them and their families forever because financial need is already so great that going into further deficit equates to not being able to not just afford food, housing, and transportation but also not afford contributing to their household's survival (if they're the main breadwinner though they may not be the head of household) or caring for other members in their family (such as students who may have elderly members at home who have biopolitical exigencies, such as medical care or hospice needs).
This is where I imagine inter/transdisciplinary research can help through its potential for revealing subjectivities in situations like the one described above. An educational researcher could examine the college frameworks in which students can and can't succeed in; a historian could explore the history of education and how the 21st century capital-T truth came to being; a statistician could show what the student bodies look like within the context of economic cost; etc. This kind of work can reveal the gaps that the capital-T truth doesn't bridge, those that it covers, and those that it never considered breaching.
This is a space where UIUC SPI participants in the Summer 2013 Research Methods and Writing Seminar engage each other as researchers, intellectuals and members of a cross disciplinary knowledge producing community.
I agree that not everyone needs a four-year college education.
ReplyDeleteAlternative learning programs and community colleges can also bring success for a person.
Xuxa, thanks for this post, I found it very interesting. I think I'm also in agreement with you on the college issue - I read the article you linked on facebook and thought it was a great and concise commentary. (for those curious, here it is: http://thoughtcatalog.com/2013/should-college-be-for-job-training-or-education/
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely true (objectively?) that different disciplines can uncover different aspects of any question, and I think this is a really important point which is often forgotten today. (Particularly by people on the quantitative side, haha).
My only question (hoping to salvage some amount of Truth) is: don't you think some questions have objective answers, answers which have content that holds universally? For example, there are certain moral principles which (I suggest) apply to all human beings anywhere and at any time. I'm not sure (just from reading your post) whether this would seem obvious to you or absurd, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts on it. Thanks!
Physicists/Engineering scientists are currently working to find a "super theory of everything" and it's called string theory. I just learned about the other day. Of course, they're still searching!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Edward's last point; while I do think that truth can be relative insomuch as different interpretations can be equally true, I also have to believe in at least the theoretical possibility of absolute truths. I find that it is a useful belief to have, because even if there really are no absolute truths, the pursuit of absolute truths can lead you to really interesting places.
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