Not-learning and the age of Trump
In the past several weeks, as I’ve spent more time on social media, I’ve been confused and enraged reading posts of acquaintances and strangers alike, who seem to reject the information being presented to them by educated scientists and doctors in favor of conspiracy theories by lay people. Additionally, I’ve gotten into arguments with people who deny systemic racism exists, and deny women are still not valued in our society and given the same respect as men. I’ve argued about the rights of immigrants, and about the man in the White House. I am tired, and, most likely, my words and posts have had little impact.
My rage comes from not understanding how people can not want to base their beliefs on research and data and statistics and reality. I am someone who always had a desire to learn more about the world. I desired to learn about my specific experience, but also to learn about the experience of people who grew up with different histories, ethnicities, countries, religions, and socio-economic status than I did. I saw education and knowledge and literacy as power and an expansion of my worldview beyond what I was raised with was, to me, desirable. I’ve been fortunate to have experiences living in and teaching in many different communities, which has enabled me greater understanding and empathy than book learning ever could.
Faced with what I’m seeing on social media, I sat in somber reflection about why people hang on to certain world views despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. What are they afraid of?
I remembered an essay written by Herbert Kohl that I was introduced to many years ago during my undergrad program, and which I have revisited several times since. In the essay, titled, “I Won’t Learn From You,” Herbert Kohl discusses the difference between failing to learn and willfully choosing not to. I teach high school, and can attest to the fact that of the kids with failing grades, there are very few who try really hard, and are still failing. Much more frequently, students are failing for a number of other reasons. One of these reasons is willfully choosing not to learn. In Kohl’s research, he found that kids will choose not to learn from you when they feel that their identity is not respected and that if they give into learning your way, they will somehow have to lose the core of who they are. Kohl writes, “Not-learning tends to take place when someone has to deal with unavoidable challenges to her or his personal and family loyalties, integrity, and identity” (6). So, feeling there is no middle-ground, students decide to actively reject learning from the stranger. I have often thought about Kohl’s ideas when dealing with students who battle the system, or certain teachers, and refuse to engage with learning even though they are more than capable.
This idea came back to mind for me when contemplating the current part of our country that seems to pride themselves on not-learning. Maybe this applies to them. They feel if they learn about these things and have to accept that they are true, their way of life in some way will be forever changed. Things may become less convenient. They fear losing part of their identities, and don’t see the potential for middle ground. They feel threatened at their core. They feel disrespected by the educated; therefore, they refuse to learn from them.
Willful not-learning is a strong position that is really hard to shake. Not-learning takes determination and fortitude that is far different from failure to learn. Kohl writes, “Deciding to actively not-learn something involves closing off a part of oneself and limiting one’s experience. It can require actively refusing to pay attention, acting dumb, scrambling one’s thoughts, and overriding curiosity” (4). This description shows how while there may be integrity of identity in deciding to follow the not-learning strategy, it is ultimately harmful to us as humans. It forces us to shut down our brains, to shut off connections, to limit our worldview and our experiences.
There is another way. The middle path. It is possible to hold on to where you come from, and be open to learning. You can love your family, and allow your curiosity to take you beyond their understanding of the world. You can become flexible and open to our world changing for the better.
If you learn about the history of racism, assimilationism, and anti-racism in America, you may start to question your first thought on issues related to race, and push yourself to dig a little deeper; if you learn about the history of women’s struggles to be treated with basic human dignity in America, you may question it when the first thing mentioned about a female leader is her appearance rather than her ideas; if you learn about the world views of people outside of the United States, you may start to question the rhetoric that America is always right; if you learn what scientists are concerned about in regards to our treatment of the environment, you may become more open to regulations on big corporations, if you learn stories of immigrants who have grown up in America and are struggling, you may become more open to creating pathways to citizenship.
Learning about these things will change you. However, you will no longer be shutting down a part of your brain in order to avoid the information. You will no longer be shutting down a part of your heart to the suffering of others, and so empathy and love will grow. Embracing truth and embracing others will not cause you to lose.
Work Cited:
Kohl, Herbert. I Won’t Learn from You and Other Thoughts of Creative Maladjustment. The New Press. New York, 1994.
