Rudderless

Perhaps it is just because it was the first week.  Perhaps this is just the method that is used to break down students and open their minds to new possibilities so that the students can become more cerebral and professional in their approach.  Or perhaps it is something else more sinister…

With the exception of one of my classes in the first week, I noticed a trend that I found a bit disturbing.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved all of my classes and found them immensely interesting.  But underlying the topics and the friendly approach of the professors - who either lectured or discussed with the students during each of the 2-hour sessions - was a tendency toward abstraction. 

In more than one class I heard the question, “What is Archaeology?”  To which the answer that was eventually given was that it was whatever anyone wanted it to be.   I always thought it was the activities surrounding the discovery of ancient ways of life.  Call me “silly” but I don’t think archaeology can be an all-encompassing term for a multitude of disciplines.  For example, I believe that chemistry is used by archaeologists but that chemistry is not archaeology.  (In fact, I will have a class next term in the use of chemistry to preserve objects.) In the end of our discussions it almost sounded like if my daughter, who loves ballet, wanted - ballet could also be archaeology!

Now I expect this sort of discussion in my Theory class.  In that class this week the question was asked, “Is Archaeology a Science?”  I answered, “Yes.”  I was the only one.  I defended my stance and in the end a certain amount of my argument was accepted by everyone but not all of it.  In the end the question was put forth, “What is Science?”  To which I answered, “A tool by which discoveries are made.”  Of course, I was wrong.  Scratch that – no one is really “wrong” but no one is really “right” either.

And that was the trend for the entire week in nearly all of the classes.

I was left at the end of the week, thrilled at the study, entranced by the objects, happy with the friendliness of the teachers, staff, and students, but befuddled at the methodology used to “teach”.  I was left feeling that academia is like a
ship without a rudder.

I don’t believe that my professors are rudderless.  I do believe that they are hesitant to offend anyone.  That may be a quality that I eventually also want someday to emulate; however, I do not feel that it should be considered offensive to have an opinion or a guiding force in one’s life and one’s study.

Everyone works inside of a paradigm.  Everyone has assumptions and preconceptions.  I believe these should always be challenged and that the honest person will continually check and recheck the foundation upon which they have built themselves.  This process involves an honest testing of those things you do not believe in.  In the end, a person fill
find themselves on a rock that cannot be moved because it has been tried and tested and found unmovable.  The
foundation of our lives should be solidly built.

Perhaps, in the end, it is my teachers who are trying to get my classmates to test and try their foundations.  In the end, perhaps, the appearance of rudderlessness is not the absence of a rudder but the attempt to make sure everyone has one – and that it is trustworthy.