Education
vs. Exposure
When students walk through their
professor’s doors, the professor is automatically given the responsibility of
giving them a broadened perspective of the world around them. Students have existing ideals and
opinions that have been formed by a parent, ecclesiastical leader, and life-experience in general. Their views
have been formulated through a mix of education and exposure, and are accepted
as truth, whether they are or not. It
isn’t until these beliefs are tested and tried before one can really be sure if
they are a practical, real-life view of the world. Education is like a refiner’s fire. Old views and opinions should be
tested and challenged before they are accepted as a life-long creed of
living. People are, after all, only
human, and they shape their belief systems around their own experiences. A parent can still be ignorant, an
ecclesiastical leader can still be narrow-minded, and life-experience can be
misleading.
When an individual makes the
decision to be educated, they are saying they want more than what they
have. They want more experience, more
knowledge, and more insight. Because the
very nature of education is a process of growing, this can often be
uncomfortable. In the course of
learning, there are frequent challenges to one’s accepted truths, as they are
required to stretch and grow into new principles and ideals. As these situations arise, it is important to
be able to decipher which of these experiences are necessary, and which are
not. There are both pros and cons to engaging students in materials they find
offensive. This is determined by whether
or not certain materials serve the purpose of educating, or just exposing.
When a student comes up against
offensive material, it serves as a crossroads.
Once they investigate their feelings, and decide why they are offended,
they can better determine if their pre-existing views hold any weight, or if
they need to be modified, or tossed out all together. In order to do so successfully, students
should ask themselves why they are offended.
Is it because of their adopted views of what is right and wrong? Or what is normal or different? As they answers these questions, they
will either fight for what they believe, having a better understanding of the
truths at their core, or discard or evolve them as they see that their pre-existing views
were narrow or incomplete.
On the other hand, there are offensive
materials that do not pose questions of right or wrong, normal or different - they
simply carry the shock factor of immorality.
The difference between the two is best understood when one considers the
difference between being educated and being exposed. Being educated on certain subjects, ranging
from drugs to religion, is far different than being exposed. Let's take rape as
an example. The definition of this heinous act is enough to teach me that it is
wrong. I believe we should all be educated about its dangers, what you should
do if it happens, how to avoid it, etc. On the other hand, I don't need a graphic
description of the act to understand or detest it any more than I would
otherwise. I read a book years ago that
gave a graphic description of a father raping his daughter. It still haunts me.
I vicariously lived through that. I do not feel it benefited me in any way. I
wish I could erase those details from my mind.
That is
exposure. And it hurts.
The same
goes with certain materials adopted into academic curriculum. For instance, I took a general Psychology
class my freshman year of college.
During the course, we held a discussion on the myths about sex and
sexuality. In order to stimulate class
discussion, our professor conducted a slide show that posed a series of true or
false questions to the class. Each slide
was illustrated. Sometimes, it was as
innocent as two men holding hands.
Others were pornographic. The
question-and-answer session was educational.
The graphic images were exposure, and did nothing to further the
educational aspect of the class. This
can have a negative effect on students’ learning.
Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann developed a
theory called the cumulative effects theory.
This theory basically says that media-messages are not all that powerful
in the short-run, but in the long-run, after being repeated over and over
again, they take a firm holding. Once
that occurs, people who disagree with those messages are discouraged from
speaking up because they believe that if it's in the media, it must be the
majority-view, and they are the minority.
The resulting silence of their views and their voices is referred to as
the spiral of silence (Vivian 404). What
is most appalling about this is that the silence is self-induced because they
think they are alone.
Although this theory deals with
media effects, this also holds true for the field of academia. The fact that certain views or materials may
be esteemed in academics gives credence to these views, whether they are worth
entertaining or not. This can create a
ripple effect through students who are still striving to determine what is and
is not true. Because students so often
come with open minds and open hands, they are not always thorough about sifting
through what they are told and determining if it has any value. Embracing certain offensive materials can
create a mirage of truth about certain topics and issues that should not be
held in high esteem. This was
demonstrated in the graphic slide show referenced earlier. Showing such offensive materials in an
academic environment gave credence to such behavior. As offensive as the material was, the
professor did not bat an eye. From his
demeanor and presentation, it could be assumed that this was normal, this was
right, and this was ok. As children, we
learn through imitation. This is still
true at the crossroads of our adult lives.
When we start a new job, we learn by
watching to see how others perform and respond.
Not only do we want to know how to do our job right, but I think it’s
safe to say that we also want to know what we can get away with. When an individual is transitioning from high
school to college, it is also a transition into adulthood. They are no longer
sitting at the feet of mom and dad, but looking to the universe for answers to
life’s most basic questions.
Even
outside of the budding adult, the academic arena is still a cross roads for all
players. This is the moment in a
person’s life when they are willing, and wanting, to unwrap their brain and
fill it with truth. How that truth is
handled, or mishandled, has lasting effects on the individual. It is important to weigh each course’s
material for its educational value, and be willing to “kill our darlings” if it
crosses the line of exposure. After all,
the ultimate goal of education should be to arm us with the tools that will
prepare us to extract Truth from the moments that make up the rest of our
lives. Although our lives may not be
laced with rainbows and butterflies, there is no reason to pull ourselves
through the mud to prove it.
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