Response to Discussion 2

Chrystal

The invention of the internet has connected us to just about everyone and everything on the planet. Whether we are watching the news, listening to a podcast, or just surfing on our favorite social media site, it is hard to not see alternative world views in action. The place I experience it the most is on social media. With billions of people, from all over the world, having access to social media, it is almost impossible to avoid different beliefs. Every day brings new posts about what should be socially accepted, what is right or wrong, and what is true or false. Sometimes it helps with understanding others views, and other times it brings out the ugliness in people. 

It sometimes becomes aggravating, or even insulting, when someone questions our beliefs. Sometimes our first instinct is to attack. Other times we may become intimidated, therefore avoiding such situations in the future. Regardless of what someone believes, there is always going to be someone out there that disagrees. Getting someone to see things in a different way, you must first understand why someone believes the way they do. Ask questions about what they believe, and really listen to what they have to say. This will help better explain why they have those beliefs in the first place. Do not intimidate or bully with your approach. Show the person you are genuinely interested in hearing them out and understanding them. Be yourself. Let the person see that your beliefs come from your own heart and soul, not because someone else told you to believe it. Make sure you know what you are talking about. You must be able to back up what you are saying. Even when you do not know something, do not try to pretend you do. Being fake, or dishonest, is a sure way to make a person not want to even hear you out. Give the person information, and ways, they can research for themselves. Many times, a person’s beliefs are influenced by those that are closest to them. They may not have ever been exposed to anything else. This will give them an opportunity to gather information for themselves so that the opinion they arrive at is their own. We cannot always change someone’s mind when it comes to their beliefs. But we can still try to have some influence by remembering to approach it in the same way we would want someone to approach us.

Wilhenma

This week's lecture was very interesting and enlightening, particularly the first one that focused on a variety of worldviews. I'm still trying to think of what this has to do with the assessment of student learning, but perhaps as we progress in this class that will be made clear to me. Thinking about alternative worldviews at first made me feel a bit uncomfortable, but I realized that feeling was probably due to a lack of understanding of different cultures and their worldviews.

One worldview where I have experienced or observed the tenants is undoubtedly the naturalism, or modernism, worldview. Of the five basic beliefs presented in the lecture, all but one is commonly taught to our students, even by those who exhibit a Christian worldview. The lecturer stated that those who believe in the modernist worldview accept that progress and evolutionary change are inevitable, mankind is autonomous and will save himself, education is key to life, and science ultimately provides answers. The troubling belief is that God is irrelevant. No one who has grown up indoctrinated in the Christian worldview would feel comfortable even saying that statement. That would be one tenet that would strike me as being non-Christian in origin. The tenet does not deny God as the Creator, but as an overseer (maybe?) that has made his creation and gives us the will to carry out his will. I think irrelevant is a harsh word and not necessarily one that true naturalists would use. 

I don't assume I have the right to counter other beliefs. I strongly feel that all of the beliefs mentioned had a foundation in some truth. Just as my students have the right to speak their truths and beliefs, I have mine as well. Even if they do not all sync up, we can challenge one another with what we know and believe and encourage our children to make decisions for themselves. After all, that is what we as educators want: open-minded, independent learners.

Diana

The alternative worldviews from this week’s lesson were very interesting. After listening to this week’s lecture, it took my mine back to a co-worker a few years ago. It seems that he mentions some of the same worldviews as stated in the Pantheism worldview. He would also explain to other co-workers and myself how certain things we would discuss and do was somewhat like or unlike his family culture.  The group main conversation was our worldview beliefs because his worldviews were so diverse from ours.  My co-worker practice Buddhism. He said this belief was a spiritual tradition and way of life for his family that originated in what is now Nepal over 3500 years ago and it is still being practice today.  

I was surprise to learn that my co-worker believe that his soul continues the cycle of rebirth until free from desire and self-focused ideals, reaching a state of oneness with the universe. I didn’t quit understand his belief, but I did understand he was from a different region with a different culture and exposed to different beliefs. Buddhism understand meditation to be an essential practice to most Buddhist. For example, my co-worker and others of his culture used meditation to look within themselves for the truth and understanding of their teachings seeking enlightenment, but I understood the word meditation in worldview as according to Joshua 1:8 where God encourages us to meditation on his word that we may be careful to do everything written in it to become more like him. It also amazed me to learn that my-coworker believed that a practice with meditation could free individuals from needless suffering, lifting all deity of a higher power making them a God and able to control their own destiny. To counter the influence of this worldview I tried to let the love and grace of God shine though me toward my co-worker and others. Letting him know this the most important in the eyes of God. I also shared Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” because there is a higher power than humanity. This why God sent his only begotten son that we could experience the love of God and have eternal life with him.