Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.
Parker J. PalmerRead
The academic bias against subjectivity not only forces our students to write poorly ("It is believed...," instead of, "I believe..."), it deforms their thinking about themselves and their world. In a single stroke, we delude our students into believing that bad prose turns opinions into facts and we alienate them from their own inner lives.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the detrimental effects of discouraging personal expression in academic writing.
Parker J. Palmer emphasizes that the academic emphasis on objectivity at the expense of subjectivity leads to poor writing among students, as they are discouraged from expressing their own beliefs. This bias not only affects their language skills but also impacts their self-perception and understanding of the world, creating a disconnect from their inner lives and turning subjective opinions into hollow facts instead of genuine expressions of thought and feeling.
Themes
SubjectivityEducationSelf-ExpressionWritingBeliefs
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the importance of encouraging creative writing in schools.
More from Parker J. Palmer
All quotes →Self-care is never a selfish act - it is only good stewardship of the only gift I have, the gift I was put on earth to offer others.
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We need a coat with two pockets. In one pocket there is dust, and in the other pocket there is gold. We need a coat with two pockets to remind us who we are.
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The kind of teaching that transforms people does not happen if the student’s inward teacher is ignored… we can speak to the teacher within our students only when we are on speaking terms with the teacher within ourselves.
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Our deepest calling is to grow into our own authentic self-hood, whether or not it conforms to some image of who we ought to be. As we do so, we will not only find the joy that every human being seeks--we will also find our path of authentic service in the world.
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The people who help us grow toward true self offer unconditional love, neither judging us to be deficient nor trying to force us to change but accepting us exactly as we are. And yet this unconditional love does not lead us to rest on our laurels. Instead, it surrounds us with a charged force field that makes us want to grow from the inside out - a force field that is safe enough to take the risks and endure the failures that growth requires.
Parker J. PalmerRead
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