Beginning to Think About Epistemology

The readings for this week's class had to do with feminist epistemology, a topic that took me a while to wrap my head around. What I understood from the readings is that knowledge is constructed by and subject to many different discourses, and it has been a trend over time that masculine discourse has been the dominant discourse. It didn't surprise me that this was the case because we have historically lived (and continue to live) in a patriarchal society. What I found interesting was that the first acknowledgement of feminist epistemology didn't come out until the early 1980s. It seems as though the world progresses quickly but, in hindsight, it has taken an extremely long time for women's voices to be heard in all realms of life.

In class we discussed the difference between knowledge that is socially constructed and knowledge that is individually constructed. While some people were confused at this concept, I feel as though I understood it quite well (perhaps because I have taken up the concept in past courses). All knowledge is socially constructed, but individual knowledge is subject to an individual's experience. To give an example, I think of differences in hair texture and color depending on race. For instance, I have no knowledge on how to style or manage a Black person's hair or an Asian person's hair because it is different than my own, whereas a Black or Asian person might have trouble styling and managing hair that is fine like mine. We gain knowledge from experience, and no person has the exact same experience as another. At this point in the College of Education and in my life in general I realize there are many forms of knowledge. Knowledge has no Truth but has several truths. (I almost want to put that on a poster for my future classroom.)

 I found that the video we watched at the beginning of class emphasized some important points when thinking about epistemology. I can't remember the speaker's name, but he mentioned diversity, creativity and imagination as being three essential components to teaching. His speech made me think of an article which I came across a few weeks ago:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/welcome-to-the-education-machine/article7580158/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=Referrer%3A+Social+Network+%2F+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links

The writer of the article likes schools to a machines that produce students who do the same things, think the same way, and follow the same rules when, in reality, individuals are not meant to be uniform. Individuals are meant to be unique, and too often teachers punish or discourage behaviour that falls outside of the expected norms. Schools should be innovative places where students with different talents and strengths are condoned rather than condemned. Teachers, above all other people, should understand that knowledge is not right or wrong and that a universal truth for one person may not be a universal truth for another.