i overheard something earlier that made me think...
today was the second day of my tutoring job, and all i was required to do was sit at a table in the Learning Center for three hours and wait for anyone who needed tutoring. no one did, so i spent quite a bit of that time eavesdropping.
at one point, a very intelligent-sounding gentlemen was talking about how he used to believe in the same things his parents did, because that's what he was taught. but now, since learning how to think for himself, he has distanced himself from his parents idealogy.
one thing he said really stuck out to me, so i wrote it down, verbatim:
as students, we are trained to think for ourselves.
that statement struck me as kind of funny. we are trained to think for ourselves. trained. to think. for ourselves. does that really make sense?
i can see the point he was making---there are definitely methods and tools we can learn and use to help us think critically and decide the truth for ourselves. but i think a lot of what people call "free-thought" is no more free than the thought of a child who believes what his parents tell him is true. people go to college and are taught to reject the beliefs of their parents, and, when they do, they think that means they are free-thinkers.
but if you are being trained by anyone, there is going to be a certain bias, a certain paradigm being impressed upon you with the intention of influencing your thought. if people want to think for themselves, they shouldn't look to their parents or their teachers or their friends to help them do it. they should look to themselves.
at one point, a very intelligent-sounding gentlemen was talking about how he used to believe in the same things his parents did, because that's what he was taught. but now, since learning how to think for himself, he has distanced himself from his parents idealogy.
one thing he said really stuck out to me, so i wrote it down, verbatim:
as students, we are trained to think for ourselves.
that statement struck me as kind of funny. we are trained to think for ourselves. trained. to think. for ourselves. does that really make sense?
i can see the point he was making---there are definitely methods and tools we can learn and use to help us think critically and decide the truth for ourselves. but i think a lot of what people call "free-thought" is no more free than the thought of a child who believes what his parents tell him is true. people go to college and are taught to reject the beliefs of their parents, and, when they do, they think that means they are free-thinkers.
but if you are being trained by anyone, there is going to be a certain bias, a certain paradigm being impressed upon you with the intention of influencing your thought. if people want to think for themselves, they shouldn't look to their parents or their teachers or their friends to help them do it. they should look to themselves.