It's a matter of opinion

As a college professor, a complaint I hear fairly often is "if you don't agree with the professor's opinion, you'll be marked down - but my opinion is just as good as hers!" This raises an interesting question: if all opinions are equal, and your opinion (say, on evolution) is just as good as my opinion, why in the world are you spending 10's of thousands of dollars to learn about my opinion?

I'm feeling cranky because I'm grading exams (guaranteed to make a teacher cranky) and I'm getting a lot of this in some of the answers. I also had a conversation with colleagues about the inability of students to recognize what is and is not a scientific question and what we can do about it. The cynical side of me says "not much" because people are so wedded to their "opinions".

As educators, we of course believe that education will change that; but while I see some evidence of that in some people, I think a lot of students pass through their college years unchanged! I'm trying hard to understand why - it is foreign to my own experience. My "opinions" on a lot of things change frequently.

For example, I just read a very interesting article in The Atlantic about what "baby boomers" can do to salvage their generational status. The author, a senior editor at The Atlantic, argues against a universal service act (basically reinstating the draft, but for everyone and not necessarily for military service). I've always been something of a fan of universal service, but the author makes some telling points against it. His solution for what boomers could do to salvage their reputation? Pay down the national debt! Not what I would have picked, but he's clearly thought long and hard about this - and I was impressed.

So, I'm left wondering why people hang on to their "opinions" so tightly - and what can be done to open their minds. Back to grading....