So two things I want to cover briefly between class periods. One, Does rhetoric in research influence bias? By that I mean does the tone in which research is written (passive or active voice) influence subconsciously how biased the researcher is. So in positivism you write with a passive voice as though you are only an unbiased observer, a computer or robot if you will taking in data and regurgitating it so that it makes sense. The passive tone is supposed to symbolize a lack of human presence and bias (e.g. this research was conducted). However a post modernist or relativist tone would use an active voice (e.g. I conducted this research). So my question is which one is better at hindering bias if any. Does the passive voice have more subtle bias because the researcher just assumes that their judgements are objective, and so without understanding their bias (like racism) might be prone more to it? Or does the active voice cause more bias because the researcher acknowledges their bias and thus might delve into it..thoughts?
Also, the topic of policing kids in high school. I tutor at a local high school, and I always see teachers policing students and I cannot help but find it slightly obnoxious and degrading. So I have to ask if there is a better way to maintain social control without such a police presence (so to speak) I generally think that at an age of being a young adult one needs to be treated like one. That means not only is adult behavior expected and encouraged but they should be respected as adults as well. A young adult who is not respected will in return give no respect back. And I think that is exactly the problem I see in that high school. I think that their opinions and ideas need to be respected and combated in an adult manner. They also should not be subject to arbitrary rules for the sake of authority. (such as you cannot sit in this seat or that) I think a big problem is that the issue of not being treated as an adult is pervasive and doesn’t end at the school level. As a society we do not treat our teenagers as young adults, and largely it is seen as the time of leisure and irresponsibility, and these young adults are trying to live to those cultural values and morals. I think school is a great place to start though to get kids invested in their futures and in habits of being a respectable person. I think also that when you function off of respect you employ a more social environment versus a more economic one. There has been research done (sorry too little time to find and cite here but def look it up if you are interested, I promise I’m not making it up) that found that people’s willingness to help or do tasks is much higher when it is perceived as a social favor, rather than an economic one. So one is more likely to help a neighbor paint if the neighbor thanks him/her and invites him/her to dinner than if the neighbor pays the person $30. People are much more willing to donate time for social benefits than monetary ones, and so as soon as one starts seeing their behavior in terms of monetary gain and not social gain, their motivation declines dramatically. So what does this have to do with high school? I think that employing these rules and regulations are very much a monetary type of consequence. If you don’t do this you get these repercussions and get sent to principal or whatever. The behavior is motivated by something other than social aesthetics. It is motivated by rules, so the behavior is judged off of if the student cares about going to the principal. If the students are treated with less rules and more on a respect basis, I think we would see that students start becoming motivated for social reasons. To attend class because the teacher might be disappointed or think badly of them if they don’t. etc. Obviously I am not naaive enough to think that this will work right away because right now culture is so anti-school especially in high school but mutual respect for a high school teacher and student is a start. I do really think that when you not only truly value a student for their adult opinions, but expect that behavior and treat them as an adult, that the child will begin to behave accordingly. First you have to give respect to get it.
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