Educators must help to separate fact from opinion<\/p>\n
Simon Marcus Gower, Executive Principal, High\/Scope Indonesia
\nSchool, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Amongst all the problems and sufferings that Indonesia has had
\nto overcome in its recent history it may seem trivial to suggest
\nthat Indonesia really needs to deal with its gossiping mentality
\nand love of rumor but in actuality gossip and the spreading of
\nrumors have been significant factors in creating problems and
\nprolonging suffering.<\/p>\n
Social conflicts have often arisen out of little more than the
\nbelief in malicious gossip. Political and economical welfare has
\nbeen negatively swayed by rumor mongers and religious tensions
\nhave provoked and heightened by false beliefs that have no
\nrelationship with the actual religious doctrines and faiths in
\nquestion.<\/p>\n
Facts have then been lost in amongst a confusion of hearsay
\nand gossip and people have not been sufficiently well equipped
\nwith powers of analysis and critical thought to pursue the facts
\nand not be misled by rumors.<\/p>\n
Of course, it is quite natural for people to enter into
\ngossip. Human nature leads most people to enjoy hearing stories
\nabout other people but there is a need to exercise powers of
\ncritical thought to determine whether what is heard holds any
\ndegree of truth. The warning "don't believe all that you read" is
\nwidely accepted but perhaps it should be added that you should
\nalso not believe all that you hear.<\/p>\n
Often, though, it seems that people do believe what they read
\nand\/ or hear and this can lead to disasters and unwarranted
\nconflicts. Obviously gossip and rumors can affect the way a
\nperson feels about other people and issues of the day but facts
\nhave to inform and guide people's feelings so that they do not
\nover react.<\/p>\n
Recently there have been numerous examples where people's
\nfeelings have overtaken them and irresponsible and irrational
\nactions have resulted. Suspected criminals have been tracked down
\nby frenzied vigilante groups that have acted on nothing more than
\na rumor. These poor suspects have suffered beatings that have in
\nsome instances resulted in death.<\/p>\n
Evidently gangs taking the law into their own hands have to be
\nunacceptable but when their crime is added to by the fact that
\nthey have acted upon rumor such behavior becomes totally
\nunacceptable. Such vigilante behavior cannot be condoned because
\nit has resulted in the deaths of innocent people. Falsely accused
\npeople have been tried, convicted and brutally murdered on the
\nflimsy basis of rumors; a complete and quite sickening
\nmiscarriage of justice.<\/p>\n
Perhaps not so sickening but equally disturbing is the news
\nthat university students have been engaged in inter-departmental
\nbrawls; and these, again, have erupted on nothing more than
\nrumors. To have students from the same university, but different
\nschools of learning, attacking each other on grounds of petty and
\nmost likely false items of gossip is disturbing indeed.<\/p>\n
One would think university students above all others would be
\nable to think with some degree of objectivity to determine the
\ntruth and so prevent false and foolhardy response, but evidently
\nsome university students are easily lead by their emotions and
\nopinions formed on subjective feelings rather than objective
\nthought.<\/p>\n
It is hard to overstate the importance of nurturing the
\nability to patiently enter into objective thought in the context
\nof our modern world and the direction that the world economy is
\ngoing. Ours is an age of an enormous quantity of information and
\nthose that succeed will be those that are best able to handle
\nthis information and use it best for their own purposes. Leaders
\nare increasingly those people that are best able to manipulate
\ninformation and, in short, be opinion leaders.<\/p>\n
This lays a very real challenge at the feet of educators, as
\nit is they more than anyone else that must guide future
\ngenerations towards skill in sorting through our world of
\ncongested information. Education must increasingly be about
\nguiding students towards an appropriate degree of receptivity to
\nthe world but simultaneously being able to use discretion and
\nfilter what must be dealt with.<\/p>\n
Effectively students need to be equipped with thinking skills
\nthat allow them to discriminate and analyze material put before
\nthem. They should be able to sort the relevant from the
\nirrelevant, the pertinent from the impertinent; the fact from the
\nopinion and the lie from the truth. In being able to handle
\ninformation in this way they should be able to integrate what
\nthey see and hear into their own lives, making it meaningful and
\nplacing it as a guide for their own actions.<\/p>\n
There is a danger, though, that students will not be guided
\ntowards this type of more sophisticated outlook on life, learning
\nand the world. There is a danger that students may too easily
\npassively consume information and so become permissive of other
\npeople's manipulation of information.<\/p>\n
Students' use of the Internet is a perfect example of this
\nkind of passive and uncritical acceptance of information. If
\nstudents are left to do their own research from the Internet,
\nthey will easily and completely uncritically accept the
\ninformation they find. Indonesian high school students have been
\nobserved quite blindly accepting data and information found on
\nthe Internet. They make little or no effort to check or verify
\nwhat they find and so inevitably they run the risk of accepting
\n"bad information" or even "misinformation".<\/p>\n
This can leave students learning wrongly and so be
\ndisadvantaged in their education. Educators need to increase
\nstudents' ability to check and re-check on the quality of
\ninformation. This demands that students are able to think
\ncritically so that they can base their understanding and
\njudgment on solid and sound knowledge.<\/p>\n
Baudelaire, the French poet, proposed that "the free man is
\nable to see the reflection of his emotions." The nature of the
\nworld today creates a condition in which a free man still needs
\nto see the reflection of his emotions but must also have the
\nability to not be overwhelmed by his emotions. The manner in
\nwhich information is manipulated in this information age allows
\nfor the manipulation of people's emotions that in turn can lead
\nto undesirable and divisive behavior borne out of gossip and
\nrumor.<\/p>\n
The British writer Samuel Johnson saw the main objective of
\neducation as creating people "expert in discernment in all things
\nwith the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from
\nthe counterfeit, and to prefer the good and the genuine." This
\ntype of objective should be recognized and targeted today and
\nshould be, as much as possible, realized in our students -- for
\ntheir tomorrows.<\/p>\n
The opinions expressed above are personal.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/educators-must-help-to-separate-fact-from-opinion-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }