After our heated classroom discussion on Tuesday, I decided to delve back into the Woodford to try and make more sense of it all. In my re-reading of chapter two, one quote stuck out to me that I was actually surprised I did not highlight in my book the first time around.
On page 22, Woodford states, “Relatively few people outside of academia have the luxury of devoting much time and energy to the pursuit of truth and understanding.” Now, not to sound all zen-like, but isn’t the pursuit of truth and understanding a lifelong goal for all individuals on this earth? Not everyone looks for truth in the way that Woodford probably would, but it seems to me that he is almost labeling the highly educated as the elite within society and as the only individuals capable of gaining true understanding. I know plenty of people, myself being one of them, who are constantly in search of truth and understanding, whether that be in an academic context or not. Thomas Jefferson states that every man is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I truly feel that to be in a state of happiness, the “pursuit of understanding” is an inevitable part of that process. To be happy, one must first understand what it is that he/she feels will bring happiness. It is a process that is never-ending whether we are conscious of it or not. To say that this is a “luxury” seems like a rather arrogant assumption. I understand that Woodford probably did not mean to sound haughty when he wrote this statement, but perhaps his choice of wording was not optimal.
1 comment:
I think this statement means that as educators we are pursuing truth and understanding for our students. I think people get distracted from this pursuit in life as they try to make a buck and buy fancy things. These fancy things are their pursuit of happiness and is different from the pursuit of truth and understanding. Also this statement is very vague, what type of truth and understanding, does he mean in a personal sense or on a larger scale? If it's the pursuit of personal truth and personal understanding then I don't think any person has the right to say what that means from person to person, but on a larger scale, looking for truth and understanding in the world, then it means something else. Even in that case who's opinion of truth and understanding are we looking for?
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