Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Scholars look for ways to restore respect for expertise

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I find the phrasing of the headline interesting, as though the scholars are trying to figure out how to get the rest of the world to listen to them. This was the focus of the recent AERA conference. The core of the issue, though, emerges in the desire of scholars to see people engage with reason and evidence more than emotion, hopes and fears. Which is fair enough, I guess - after all, I have been the first to argue in favour of correct and clear reasoning. But as the article notes, where are the academics and the researchers in the issues of the day? Why are their cloistered behind tuition barriers and subscription walls? Why don't we see them show what good reasoning and clear thinking looks like? If the only news you see is Fox News, you begin to think that Fox News is news.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Nov 22, 2024 1:41 p.m.

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