Fact or Opinion? A Lesson on Christian Discernment
by Stephen Combs, MA, MLS
I knew a nursing student several years back who was given a textbook in one of her college courses that was riddled with agenda-laden propaganda and factually incorrect versions of history and reality.
At the start of the course the professor warned the students not to question or dispute anything in the textbook or anything from her lectures.
Naturally this same approach permeated the writing assignments that the students were given as well, which caused the student I knew a lot of cognitive dissonance and confusion.“Was she up for a fight, or did she just want to pass the course and get on with her career?”
I discussed her dilemma with her from my viewpoint as a college writing instructor. I proposed two options: Stand on principle and tell the truth, or parrot back what the professor wanted to hear.
The question came down to this: Was she up for a fight, or did she just want to pass the course and get on with her career?
She knew that accepting the faulty premises of what her professor was asking of them to write about and accepting everything she taught without question was antithetical to the very purpose of higher education: the search for truth.
Nothing in this instance can be taken as a positive in preparing someone for the health care professions.“I hear parents express frustration at not knowing about, and not having control over, what goes on at their child’s high school. They don’t like some of the curriculum but feel helpless about changing things.”
A good writer and clear thinker, she reluctantly took the only C of her nursing education because she declined to accept the teacher’s demands.
I doubt that her adult, mostly female classmates were much influenced by the propaganda, at least not to the extent the professor and authors might have hoped. Most were older than traditional college students with their values well established.
However, for high schoolers, it’s more challenging. For Christians and other kids raised in families of faith, the challenge can be daunting.
I hear parents express frustration at not knowing about, and not having control over, what goes on at their child’s high school. They don’t like some of the curriculum but feel helpless about changing things.“Your student must be able to tell the difference between reasoned discourse and agenda-driven propaganda.”
Those with some time and energy can get involved by attending school board meetings, running for office, and meeting with teachers. But this is impractical for many parents because of demands at work and on the home front. It’s especially difficult for single parents. Still, there is much they can do.
It starts at the dinner table, or wherever families hold their summit meetings. As I argue often, a child’s most important teachers are the parents. (I use “parents” here to include anyone who is the child’s guardian.)
Students must be prepared to hear claims at school that conflict with what they learned at Sunday school and home.
This might be their first exposure to a principal goal of education – the ability to consider all sides of an argument, to weigh them against what one knows to be true, and to explore them further. This is a good thing.“A teacher who lectures that the Resurrection is an absurd magical fantasy is stating an opinion. A teacher who states that non-Christians typically believe the Resurrection is fantasy is stating a fact. “
But unless they are alert, they could get blindsided with propaganda disguised as argument. Making argument, says Chris B. Crawford, the author of Making Argument Work, is “achieving positions through reasoned discourse.”
Your student must be able to tell the difference between reasoned discourse and agenda-driven propaganda.
And, the difference between opinion and fact.
A teacher who lectures that the Resurrection is an absurd magical fantasy is stating an opinion. A teacher who states that non-Christians typically believe the Resurrection is fantasy is stating a fact.
If the fact is presented fairly, completely, and clearly, the listener won’t know the speaker’s opinion on the subject. “If your college-bound high school student has a solid Christian upbringing and can tell the difference between argument and propaganda, in all likelihood he will be inoculated against the gremlins that await him. “
The difference is big. It’s important.
(In my undergraduate economics education many decades ago, I never knew the politics of any of my professors. This quaint state of affairs, sadly, has mostly disappeared from the academy.)
The late Richard Paul, a pioneer in the modern critical thinking movement and the author of several books on the subject, said this ability to understand the difference between fact and opinion is a key to becoming a critical thinker. He once told me that kindergarten children can learn to think critically.
If your college-bound high school student has a solid Christian upbringing and can tell the difference between argument and propaganda, in all likelihood he will be inoculated against the gremlins that await him.
The only remaining question is how to deal with a professor who demands unchallenged acceptance of his premises.“I admire those who are unwavering in defending their principles. I also understand the position that winning the war is the goal, regardless of battles lost along the way.”
I wish there were an easy answer here. My only advice is to pick your fights.
There are skirmishes, there are battles, and there are wars, the late Bruce Williams used to explain on his syndicated radio program. He said he was willing to lose some skirmishes, a few battles, but never the war.
Think on this. Is it worth the cost to stand on principle, irritate a thin-skinned ideological professor, and jeopardize the goal of earning the degree or certificate?
It’s a question only the student can answer. I admire those who are unwavering in defending their principles. I also understand the position that winning the war is the goal, regardless of battles lost along the way.
In 1520, Martin Luther ignored Pope Leo X’s papal bull ordering him to appear in Rome within 60 days to answer the charge of heresy. Sixty days later, Luther was excommunicated.
This instigated the mother of all battles lost-wars won, the Reformation that changed the Christian Church forever.
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