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He is referring to cultural postmodernism, which is a worldview in which objective truth is not to be preferred to the perceived / experienced understanding (i
by marcusverus 7y ago
He is referring to cultural postmodernism, which is a worldview in which objective truth is not to be preferred to the perceived / experienced understanding (i.e. opinion) as to the truth. Especially when considering the socially or economically disadvantaged.
So while an adherent to a purely rational worldview might ask, "what the hell do feelings have to do with measuring academic performance?", a postmodernist would be glad to, say, include data about feelings (i.e. opinions) in an article and try to pass them off as evidence alongside hard, objective data, as though someone's feelings about grades and the grades themselves are both legitimate data from which to make decisions or design policy.
- jariel 7y agoVery true, but 'feelings' and 'attitudes' do matter. Kids who 'love math and solving problems' might be considerably more likely to apply themselves, do the work, have the confidence/grit to push a little bit and get through it. Frankly 'attitude' is one of the bigger determinants in so many things. So if we can somehow get kids to 'love math' my gosh this is a materially good outcome.
- marcusverus 7y agoWe agree entirely. Feelings matter for motivation and can underpin performance. But the rational view is that, at the end of the day, you must have an objective measure of performance, devoid of opinion and emotion. The kids' feelings matter when motivating them to perform, but when it comes time to evaluate said performance, feelings cannot matter one wit. If they do, you are no longer measuring performance, you're measuring something else.