Meaning and Understanding

So, this is the kind of post where I am out of my depth; so please, any help is appreciated. I believe there are implications here regarding equity in my classroom and maybe more broadly in society in general.

I am noticing a difference around the pursuit of meaning and understanding. The first time I noticed this was when working with people who take a very consultative approach — people who ask a lot of questions. Usually these are people who are new to a situation and need to ramp up fast. Consultants and venture capitalists are classic examples of people who have created a methodology to deal with their constant need to ramp up very quickly in new situations. From what I have experienced, the most conspicuous aspect of this methodology is to ask a lot of questions — lots and lots of questions.

So, now I notice when people do this. I notice who asks a lot of questions and more recently, I have been noticing among my students who doesn’t ask questions. Well, that’s not right either, everyone asks questions but “What is the answer?” is a radically different question than “How do you know that is the answer?”

I think there is a sort of privilege embedded in exercising the right to understand — the right to demand meaning. As a white man, I work to understand privilege not as an inherently oppressive attribute but as something that I “have” that I should not have alone. In a world where the most important questions do not have answers; the right, the awareness and the capacity to create meaning is everything. I am coming to understand this as what Amartya Sen called “agency”.

Answers are currency. Currency can only give you the ability to be a consumer. Understanding and, more importantly, the ability to create meaning from the world around you makes you a producer.

Answers are data. Data describes an instance of a problem but not the nature of the problem. It takes insight won through a struggle to create meaning to gain insight. I know that I want my students to struggle like this. I also know that some of my students have to struggle more than others and I am wondering if that is because we have taught them to only ask for answers and not to fight for understanding and meaning.

I see in myself the desire and too often the practice of giving in to giving answers and my intuition is that I do it most frequently with the students that have the least practice at demanding meaning. This shit is hard.