Ask the "Expert"

At the risk of sounding like I am patting myself on the back (but as you may know, I am far too un-agile to bend that way), I thought I would share this with you—a peek into a bit of my brain rambles in my professional world.

I had an interesting experience the other day at work. A journalism student interviewed me for part of her major project in a course. She was to investigate a topic of her choice and interview three “experts” as part of her information gathering. Her topic was same sex marriage. She chose to interview someone from Political Science, someone from Sociology, and me (Family Studies). Her emphasis was on social policy. As you might suspect, this is a hot topic today and one about which I don’t feel particularly comfortable sharing personal feelings—mostly because it is not wise to come across as oppositional toward such things (even if you are only asking tough questions, not necessarily attacking a concept) because doing so can get you called all sorts of derogatory names and universities these days do not want to be associated with “bigots.” That is not to say that where I work is the bastion on liberal thinking and Political Correctness, but it is a university just the same. I am also a little hesitant because I think there are some legitimate debates about the topic and few easy answers.

Anyway, if you know me, I am very cautious and try to tune into the complex nuances of issues, and tend to qualify what I say quite a bit. I don’t see black-and-whiteness in many things—the fence is hard to get off of when you can see valid pastures on both sides. At any rate, my approach to these types of interviews is to address it as I think I should—as a scholar. After all, who really cares what some bald guy with glasses thinks? I am approached because of my professional status. So, after about 40 minutes of interviewing me, she asked me what I thought the solution was to “the problem.” I quickly explained that “the problem” depends on who is calling it a problem, and what one thinks is problematic. For what one sees as a problem, another has no complaint. She still kept digging, and I said that I wanted to answer this from a scholarly standpoint, not a personal one (for reasons I have just explained). She, somewhat satisfyingly, let me answer that way.

When all was over, I was a bit sheepish about how I answered most of her questions in a non-committal way. I focused on what the controversies were and what the typical arguments are on multiple sides of each controversy. I emphasized how complex some of the issues are, and some of the challenges in openly discussing these issues due to the strong personal reactions people have and the politics of name-calling. As I gave a somewhat sheepish conclusion to my tap dancing, she thanked me and told me how much she appreciated what I had to say, that I helped her see both sides of things, and that the other faculty she interviewed just gave their personal opinions and argued their own perspectives. (It was obvious what the other faculty thought about the issue—the student had clearly not heard or understood most of the opposition arguments toward the issue.) She said that my approach to her questions was better for her. I briefly explained that that is my approach to education—that my role is to help students think about and analyze the issues, not just say what I think.

Once she left, I reflected on how unfortunate it is that the other professors she interviewed simply argued their opinions. This is exactly what I fear happens too often in higher education—and that more often than not, those who are arguing their opinions come down on mostly one side of the spectrum (has clearly been proven the professors as a group are much more likely to fall on the liberal side of the political spectrum—which you may praise, but it is still only one way of thinking about things). I think it is a shame that all too often the supposed forefront of diverse thinking and academic freedom presents a one-sided way of thinking about popular, social issues.

I hope my approach is not so much the exception that I fear it may be. I certainly have my weaknesses as a professor, but I do believe in my approach and think it is more compatible with what the educational ideals upon which higher education was founded in the first place (or should have been). Of course, it may be easier to take my approach when one is of a minority opinion (which is sometimes the case for me), but I would hope that were I teaching family-oriented content at BYU (a prospect I have thought much about and have come fairly close to have happening) that I would engage in the same type of thought promotion and personal “hush-ness” when it comes to studying social issues on a scholarly level.