Consequences of Postmodern Epistemology on Learning

Discussion

Jesse A. Hartman:

"many postmodernists feel that there is no such thing as knowledge at all. Opinions exist, and nothing else. Whereas in modernity we generally aimed to discover a singular truth (what “is”) based on empiricism and objectivity, the postmodernist aims to discover multiple truths (what “can be”) based on lived experience and subjectivity. This might be an interesting way to consider reality on occasion, but when subjectivity is viewed as what reality is, it immediately stalls the mechanisms of learning.

I began to notice a form of this extreme subjectivity in my Gen Z students, who were misinterpreting feelings of momentary helplessness as permanent conditions. Unless they felt a sense of mastery—completely and immediately—all was lost. It seemed they would give up at the first sensation of confusion (a sensation which is part of any learning process), because if something didn’t feel easy then it was deemed impossible. “I’m struggling with writing,” an observation on a temporary state, had become, “I am bad at writing,” almost as if it were a part of their identity. My students were viewing any fleeting feeling as their truth—fact and opinion had apparently become one singular entity. And the inevitable conclusion for many students was, “why bother trying?”

The act of learning requires an appreciation for nuance. We don’t fly immediately from ignorance to expertise, but instead slowly climb a gradient of understanding as we attempt to make contact with the truth. To define a multifaceted topic in simple black-or-white terms is not a means for teaching children how to think critically or discover truth. Children raised to say the opposite of what they mean as a tool for feeling secure will likely struggle to not only express themselves, but to understand themselves as well. They’ll end up saying, “Sure,” when what they mean is, “I don’t know.” They’ll end up believing that learning is impossible when it’s actually just difficult. They’ll end up quitting instead of trying. And trying is the lifeblood of learning.

I remember hearing the slogan knowledge is power as a kid, and assumed that it meant that the more we know about the world, the more capable we can be in navigating its challenges. In order to survive, knowing stuff is clearly helpful. Postmodernism, on the other hand, teaches that those in power wield socially-constructed knowledge as a means of subjugation. If claiming to know something marks you as an oppressor, then seeking knowledge is the act of an oppressor in training. To say, “I know” is to say, “I win”—and more importantly, “You lose.”

Learning is predicated on the belief that progress is possible. To learn is not to escape one’s doom, nor to defeat an enemy, but to improve towards one’s potential through achieving understanding and acquiring knowledge. But if teachers were to abide by all of the dominant tenets of postmodernism and cultural relativism, in which all is subjective, there is no way for a student to make progress, because, like society as a whole, there is nothing for them to progress towards.

From what I’ve observed, children raised with bumper sticker slogans—“If you’re not part of the solution, then you’re part of the problem; Believe women; Resist”—as a substitute for engaging with real people and real ideas are likely to struggle to reach their academic, intellectual, and personal potential. The combination of social media, news as entertainment, and postmodernist rhetoric has put many of today’s learners in a place where it’s hard for them to understand anything more intricate than a slogan. But with the right educational philosophy, we can give them the tools they need to break free from this stultifying norm. It’s not up to us to tell students whether something is or is not true: It is our responsibility to provide them with the foundational skills to analyze questions using nuance and balance and ultimately to discover the truth for themselves.

I can concede that subjectivity can feel just as real as objectivity. We are finite beings living in an infinite universe, communicating amorphous ideas using limited language. As we try our best to survive and thrive, grow and share, learn and teach, it would be useful to consider some concepts that we can lean on, so that we might avoid feeling “totally lost.”

(https://fairforall.substack.com/p/postmodernism-impede-learning?)