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发帖数: 19398 | 1 By Jay P. Greene
My advice for scholars wishing to contribute to public discourse during this
election season is simple: Just tell the truth. One might think it
unnecessary to urge scholars to be honest, but it is shocking how easily
education researchers are tempted to deviate from the truth in the hope of
gaining influence, affecting outcomes, and obtaining greater status. The
hard reality is that scholars always have limited influence, cannot easily
anticipate or control outcomes, and are forsaking the greatest benefit of
academia if they bend the truth for the illusion of status.
It should be obvious to anyone who entered academia that the greatest
benefit of a scholarly life is the ability to search for the truth and
describe whatever you discover. In no other occupation can one similarly
feel free to pursue the truth. If you work for a company, you can't say that
their products are lousy without expecting to be fired. If you are a lawyer
, your obligation is to your client, not the truth. If you are a politician,
winning elections generally takes priority over the truth. Virtually every
occupation you can imagine is constrained in the types of questions one can
ask and the answers one can communicate—except for academia.
"Scholars have nothing but the truth to offer. And if they abandon that,
they have lost everything."
But scholars too frequently throw away this benefit. Researchers involved in
the Gates Foundation's "Measures of Effective Teaching" study from 2009
claimed the study found that teachers are best evaluated using a formula
that combines multiple measures when the research actually found no such
thing. And as Rick Hess noted in a blog post in the fall of 2014,
researchers advocating for the common core claimed that the standards are
internationally benchmarked, evidence-based, capture college and career
readiness, and follow the example set by leading nations, when in fact these
are at best half-truths.
Even if you are not persuaded by these examples, all of us can think of
instances in which scholars shade the truth in the hope that their delicate
"messaging" will produce a desired outcome or please a powerful patron. At
the very least, we can all think of instances in which scholars remain
silent as their work is misrepresented in public discourse.
I don't mean to suggest that scholars who distort or conceal the truth are
insincere or ill-intentioned. They simply appear to be driven so strongly by
the desire to produce what they believe to be good outcomes and exercise
influence that they deviate from what is supported by evidence. They bend
the truth for what they may believe to be a greater good.
But no good will come from this type of strategic abandonment of truth.
Politicians may distort evidence to advance policy goals, but scholars have
no comparative advantage in devising the right messaging to win political
battles. Even most politicians fail at this, which is why they have to
change policy positions so often. And if scholars are caught messaging or
flip-flopping, they lose credibility the next time they hope to influence
policy. Politicians can get away with it because at least they possess power
and patronage. Scholars have nothing but the truth to offer. And if they
abandon that, they have lost everything.
So I urge scholars to remember why they became academics. If you wanted to
lie for power, influence, and status, you could have become a politician.
But you aren't a politician, so stick to what you are especially well-
positioned to add to policy discussions: the truth. |
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