Every age presents challenges to integrity, but some eras appear to be times of very limited tolerance. The question for individuals in an age of critical cancelling and censorship, is whether or not they have the fortitude to self-report how they differ from the consensus when such reporting might jeopardize their status.
Surveys. Who wants to take one? Who needs to take one? Who thrives on them? And who came up with the idea of a survey that incorporates self-reporting?
Forget the first three questions. My guess for the fourth question is someone in education, probably someone with a doctorate in “education.” And no, that’s not a doctorate in epistemology.
Not picking on anyone here, but I just saw a study on 17 Mennonite academies, that is, private schools run essentially by and for Mennonite communities but not excluding children of different beliefs. The schools appear to have happy graduates, probably many of them successful in diverse endeavors. So, this isn’t about the quality of Mennonite curricula or their instructors.
What caught my eye wasn’t centered in the results of the study. Instead, I was drawn to a major aspect of the research, the source of the information. That sources was “self-reporting.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but in this touch-feely world of sensitivity and self-esteem, I wonder about the value of such a study. I wonder about whether we haven’t gone so far toward opinion over fact, that we cannot distinguish between them. It is, as you know, an age of widespread punditry, of editorializing, and of—dare I say it for fear of incriminating myself—blogging (gasp!).
It is also an age when cancel culture reigns in the public square. Like its many previous incarnations, such cancelling infuses individuals with social fear, the fear of being ostracized because of a comment or belief. That fear is pervasive among many, especially among those whose livelihoods depend on the whims of people in power, people with an intolerance for freedom of expression, freedom of difference.
Thus, in a study by Andromeda Hightower, Peter D. Wiens, and Paul J. Yoder, “Participants self-reported their own abilities and perspectives in a variety of different questions regarding their faith, instructional practices, and political views” (1). * But before I comment on that, I should note that a “majority of participants identified as female.” Some 31.55% of the respondents identified as male and a surprising number—at least to me—4.4% had no response to the gender-identification question. Did they not know? Did they have no gender? Were they afraid that if they self-reported being some “nonbinary” gender that they might lose their jobs? In a question about the religion of the participants, most, as would be expected, I believe, “self-identified as Christian (97.7%)” (6). Again, surprising to me, 2.1% had no response from which I could draw no conclusion. I will note that among the Christians, the participants claimed 26 different denominations, with 51.8% saying they were Mennonites. So, apparently, Mennonite academies do not restrict their instructors to a single faith and hire those from other faiths.
But the self-reporting is the focus here. Remember, it is an age of opinion. So, I have to ask whether or not you would honestly self-report on matters of belief or politics if you thought there was a potential for reprisals of any kind, large or small, from reassignment, through censorship, to dismissal. What do you think?
Note:
*Hightower, Andromeda, Peter Wiens, and Paul Yoder, 2019. Survey of Mennonite Schools Council Educators Final Report. University Libraries. University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Online at https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1271&context=tl_fac_articles
Surveys. Who wants to take one? Who needs to take one? Who thrives on them? And who came up with the idea of a survey that incorporates self-reporting?
Forget the first three questions. My guess for the fourth question is someone in education, probably someone with a doctorate in “education.” And no, that’s not a doctorate in epistemology.
Not picking on anyone here, but I just saw a study on 17 Mennonite academies, that is, private schools run essentially by and for Mennonite communities but not excluding children of different beliefs. The schools appear to have happy graduates, probably many of them successful in diverse endeavors. So, this isn’t about the quality of Mennonite curricula or their instructors.
What caught my eye wasn’t centered in the results of the study. Instead, I was drawn to a major aspect of the research, the source of the information. That sources was “self-reporting.”
Now, I don’t know about you, but in this touch-feely world of sensitivity and self-esteem, I wonder about the value of such a study. I wonder about whether we haven’t gone so far toward opinion over fact, that we cannot distinguish between them. It is, as you know, an age of widespread punditry, of editorializing, and of—dare I say it for fear of incriminating myself—blogging (gasp!).
It is also an age when cancel culture reigns in the public square. Like its many previous incarnations, such cancelling infuses individuals with social fear, the fear of being ostracized because of a comment or belief. That fear is pervasive among many, especially among those whose livelihoods depend on the whims of people in power, people with an intolerance for freedom of expression, freedom of difference.
Thus, in a study by Andromeda Hightower, Peter D. Wiens, and Paul J. Yoder, “Participants self-reported their own abilities and perspectives in a variety of different questions regarding their faith, instructional practices, and political views” (1). * But before I comment on that, I should note that a “majority of participants identified as female.” Some 31.55% of the respondents identified as male and a surprising number—at least to me—4.4% had no response to the gender-identification question. Did they not know? Did they have no gender? Were they afraid that if they self-reported being some “nonbinary” gender that they might lose their jobs? In a question about the religion of the participants, most, as would be expected, I believe, “self-identified as Christian (97.7%)” (6). Again, surprising to me, 2.1% had no response from which I could draw no conclusion. I will note that among the Christians, the participants claimed 26 different denominations, with 51.8% saying they were Mennonites. So, apparently, Mennonite academies do not restrict their instructors to a single faith and hire those from other faiths.
But the self-reporting is the focus here. Remember, it is an age of opinion. So, I have to ask whether or not you would honestly self-report on matters of belief or politics if you thought there was a potential for reprisals of any kind, large or small, from reassignment, through censorship, to dismissal. What do you think?
Note:
*Hightower, Andromeda, Peter Wiens, and Paul Yoder, 2019. Survey of Mennonite Schools Council Educators Final Report. University Libraries. University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Online at https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1271&context=tl_fac_articles
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