My sister Judi and I often argue about the purpose of higher education. She believes that college is for developing marketable skills. I believe college is for developing thinking skills. She sees college as a path toward employment. I see college as a path toward human flourishing. Judi majored in journalism and ran her own communications and public relations firm. I majored in philosophy and went into the restaurant business.
In 2022, the MIT Open Learning Website posted a story about a recently published white paper called “The Workforce Relevance of a Liberal Arts Education.” Given my beliefs about higher education, I was primed to uncritically accept its findings. Based solely on the title, I sent a ‘told-you-so’ link to Judi before I’d even read it.
When I clicked through to the white paper, I noticed that a series of roundtable discussions with senior campus leaders informed the paper’s point of view. At the end of the paper, the authors listed the roundtable participants. Of the eleven institutions represented, nine of them identified as liberal arts colleges.
Granted, a white paper takes a position and advocates for it. The report did not claim to be a research paper. Still, I could easily see myself using the report as evidence for a belief I want to be true.
Judi and I would probably characterize our views on higher education as polarized. In truth, if we ever bothered to explore each other’s perspectives, I’m confident we’d discover broad areas of agreement. But what fun would that be? We get a strange satisfaction from adopting our roles as combatants. Our relationship is not at risk over the disagreement.
A more consequential polarization grips our society. We are all primed to uncritically accept our tribe’s claims. We’ll happily buy whatever our side is selling while simultaneously parsing every sneer and soundbite coming from the other side.
Signs point to a particularly nasty US presidential campaign between now and November. We’re about to be thrown into the deep end of a pool of lies and disinformation. To prevent yourself from drowning, notice what you want to be true.
Noticing what you want to be true requires humility and honesty. Do you care more about truth than you do about power, winning, and looking good? Perhaps you believe that your preferred ends justify dishonest means. You don’t need your claims to be true as long as they’re popular. Of course, one wonders what kind of future you have in mind if honesty can be so easily cast aside on the path to achieving it.
There don’t appear to be any consequences for public figures who tell lies. It’s all upside. It’s possible to gain an advantage over your opponents by lying about them, and no harm will come to your standing as an authority. And, since political campaigns are high-stakes competitions, we can expect to hear a lot of lies between now and November. Notice what you want to be true.
