Perspective PowerTM - One Right Answer Thinking
Educated people are often way too satisfied with one-right-answer to a problem. As a result, you don’t seek additional points of view. In other words, as your education opened your mind, it shut your eyes.
By way of explanation, a confession: At school, I was a challenging child. Never the ringleader, more of a spokesman for the naughty group. And so, I do have a certain sympathy for my teachers. Nonetheless, looking back, it’s clear I wasn’t taught how to flex my Perspective PowerTM. Instead, my classmates and I were instructed to memorize the one-right-answer that got the A-grade. Over time, teachers molded the soft clay of our minds until it dried out and hardened. At which point; they held a graduation ceremony.
The one-right-answer approach to education is epitomized by the multiple-choice exam. Five possible answers, one is totally right, the other four are completely wrong. Feeling lucky? If we ever dared to deviate from the one-right-answer in the approved textbook, our grade fell.
This ongoing reinforcement conditioned us to avoid ambiguity, seek certainty and assume there’s only one-right-answer in every situation. Remember how we responded to those awful ambiguous questions that plagued multiple choice exams? ‘That was so unfair! There’s only supposed to be one-right-answer!’
The French philosopher Emile Chartier observed: “Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it’s the only one you have.” And yet, if we believe there’s only one-right-answer to a problem then, as soon as we identify one possible answer—most likely, a predictable answer—we’ll see no reason to keep looking at our challenge from additional points of view. In other words, we’ll see no need to flex our Perspective PowerTM.
The Academic Lens
Unfortunately, this one-right-answer mentality overflows into higher education. The civil rights activist, Howard Zinn observed: “In graduate school you get basically the same point of view that you get in elementary school, only with footnotes.”
Just like a multiple choice exam, a college education relays a point of view. University departments are often bastions of intellectual inbreeding and academic groupthink where everything tends to be seen through the lens of a particular discipline: ‘We have the best way of understanding and doing things. The one-right-answer is our answer.’ Every other approach is seen as inferior and, at worst, totally misguided.
And so, students of the ‘hard’ sciences—like chemistry—and students of the ‘soft’ sciences—like sociology—look down on each other; and both groups look down on the Arts Faculty. Meanwhile, the artists are looking down on the entire free world! I always wanted to tell them: “Just because no one understands you doesn’t make you an artist!”
One-Right-Answer And Back Pain
If you’re one of the millions of people who suffer from low back pain, the treatment you receive is likely to depend on the person you choose to ask for help; and his or her one-right-answer. It will depend on whether you consult a medical doctor or a physical therapist. If you consult a medical doctor, your treatment will depends on whether you speak with a physician or a surgeon. If you contact a surgeon, it will depend on whether it’s a neurosurgeon or an orthopedic surgeon.
If you don’t believe me, try discussing the role of a chiropractor in the management of low back pain with an orthopedic surgeon. You’ll feel the surgeon’s one-right-answer view of things tighten around your throat like a noose!
Harry Potter And The Professor’s Folly
Professor Harold Bloom is Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University, Professor of English at New York University, and a former Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard. In short, he’s about as academic as it is possible to be!
In his review of ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’, Professor Bloom reveals his own one-right-answer view of things. He labels people who prefer popular fiction to classical literature ‘reader non-readers’. Ouch! From Bloom’s perspective, in order to be truly literate a person must prefer the classics; a point of view so cloistered as to be worthy of the dusty professors at Hogwarts itself.
How might a distinguished and erudite academic like Professor Bloom benefit from seeing past his one-right-answer and paying attention to the radically different perspectives provided by popular culture? Here’s a possible scenario: Judging from the tone of his review, it’s unlikely that Professor Bloom would join me for an evening of stand-up comedy. And yet, by continually reframing common experiences to create surprise and laughter, a stand-up set can be an outstanding example of creative writing; the very subject on which Bloom is indisputably a world authority.
Would Professor Bloom benefit from this fresh perspective? Sure! He is, after all, lecturing to the students at Yale and humor is a powerful way to hold the attention of an audience.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting Professor Bloom’s opinions are without merit. When someone’s point of view is considered and sincerely held, we always benefit from listening to it. This is particularly true when we find that viewpoint irritating; the sure sign of a fresh perspective.
Bloom’s review is simply an excellent demonstration of a key point: Don’t assume your education will automatically inspire you to seek out points of view that are significantly different from your own one-right-answer perspective.
I’ll give Professor Bloom the last word: “One can reasonably doubt that ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ is going to prove a classic of children’s literature…”
Set Aside Your One-Right-Answer
Here’s one of several Perspective PowerTM strategies designed to help you overcome the limitations of your one-right-answer education…
The simple act of mentally putting your one-right-answer aside will reengage your brain to seek solutions in fresh directions. For example, if you’re a small business owner, periodically ‘bracket off’ your current approach to each area of business; marketing, office administration, etc. Then, taking one aspect of your business at a time, reconsider your operation with fresh eyes. Be willing to explore different approaches, even if a perfectly functional one is already in place.
