Recently, I have become conscious of severe bias in “educational” content that I have received and amazingly paid for in the past year. By looking back, I am now aware of the contradiction that many educational resources and its teachers make, as well as general ideas in society.

Have you ever been told that you need to listen to all sides of an argument before you judge someone, or that the least common ideas are the most important ones to hear? I know I have been told this repeatedly in classrooms for many years, especially on topics of history. It is frequently told from a single perspective, and the focus has been to shift that to the other perspectives. But what happens when we try to replace the old with the new? How can we tell if there is an improvement if we forget the things that the old practice entailed? The truth is, we can’t. If we eliminate the voices we simply don’t have the patience to hear, how will we ever rightly call ourselves just? If we silence those who we say are not important, we are not improving, just reversing the narrative. 

Humans are wired to want revenge. It is in our nature, because that is how we could most efficiently protect ourselves from further harm inflicted by something or someone. If you get hit on the head by a coconut, you can chuck that coconut as far away as you want so it doesn’t bother you again. But what if the coconut hits another person? You are then just redirecting your problems. We can’t just dump responsibilities onto other people and expect our problems to disappear, especially when those problems are caused directly by that ignorance. And we cannot simply turn the tables on the people who previously caused our problems, then call ourselves better.

But this happens so much. People are too preoccupied with their own problems or ideas to care about how other people’s problems or ideas are just as important. Maybe you both want the same thing but have different reasons. Maybe you both have the same obstacle but have different ways to get around it. Or maybe your negligence to do what you say everyone should do is stopping you from getting things done. 

Teachers and officials always insist how it is important to get the perspectives of different groups on issues, yet they almost always participate in these discussions only to talk instead of listen. They hardly budge in any form of argument, especially with a student or someone younger than them. 

It is often easier for people to tell younger generations what to do without showing them how. First, it saves the instructor from actually taking the time to give the younger person the tools to do so. Second, the instructor can put off their own responsibility onto a younger person with less experience and fewer tools to complete that responsibility. Listening to others is easier said than done, especially when you are already set in your ways. However, it is just as hard to listen while thinking critically if you haven’t got the tools to do so. It is increasingly frustrating when you have those mental tools but the very people who tell you to listen to all perspectives are hiding the sides of the issue they disagree with. Instead of instructing others, you can learn from them and set an example simultaneously. Create an interdependent relationship with others instead of an instructing relationship.

People often stress the importance of gaining as much information as possible about something before you make a decision, but they hide the perspectives of the people they disagree with. When we learn about a movement in school, even in some university courses, we only learn about the beliefs and actions of the side that won. Don’t you ever wonder why the movement happened in the first place? What sparked it? What did the opposition do? What were the beliefs and actions of the side that didn’t win? Arguments and political movements don’t exist in a vacuum. There are multiple sides, and rarely are there only two. The other people deserve to be heard, and we deserve to learn about them, if only so we know what not to do in the future. One cannot simply erase half of history, which was the issue with the imperialism of European countries and narratives. It is just as bad to flip the narrative and erase the previous one, because then you are no better. Think about what you are asking others to do, and see if you can do it just as well before you put that responsibility on them. We cannot keep replacing everything; some things are better when they work together.

Until next time, keep thinking outside the box, and keep reading in between!