Gain Knowledge
Before I dive into the main point of this blog today I’d like you to take a minute and write down a few bullet points about what you believe a family is. There is no right or wrong answer, just write down your beliefs or views on the topic. Then take another minute and write down how or where you got those beliefs from. When I did this I found that most of what I thought about the family unit came from religious teachings, personal experience, and likewise people confirming my thoughts. At first I was content with my knowledge and was not interested in learning about others perspectives or experiences. Not because I didn’t care, but because I didn’t find it relevant to me. Now I don’t think I am the only one who has this issue. Some may even ask, what issue? What is wrong with being firm and confident in your beliefs and not taking time to broaden your horizons? I mean we live in a world today where people are divided so quickly just because they are either “for or against” a certain topic. In today’s society to take the middle ground and have an open mind to all perspectives is considered weak. My goal for my blog is to write about topics I’m passionate about, while still making sure as many perspectives are represented as possible.
Researching family science can be a very fragile matter. As I have already mentioned many people have very strong opinions on topics such as abortion, same-sex marriage, adoption, single parent homes, and so many others. These topics and any relating to the study of the family relations can be very difficult to measure and sample. This is because you first have to define the measurement being used for the study. Secondly, you have to be able to get a good sample size and variation in order to let the study be valid. Then we have to develop and operationalize the behavior or variable we have picked to measure. We have to look into family studies just like you do an experiment in any other way, mainly using the scientific method. This includes making an observation, asking a question, forming a hypothesis, making a prediction, testing that prediction, and then using those results to form a theory. Now this may seem quite simple, but when studying the family unit a road block we can run into is that some experiments can be unethical to do on humans. You also have to be willing to set aside any preconceived biases you have going into the study. There are also so many different variables, seen & unseen, that can impact the results. Yet, despite all of these hurdles researchers have to jump over, family science is one of the most researched topics today. People want to understand and learn more about how families operate, however, in order to do this more often than not they have to dig a bit deeper.
This leads me to my focus for this blog. First, to write in a way that covers multiple perspectives and second is make sure people aren’t satisfied with just surface learning. Let me give you an example of what I mean by surface learning. Elections are coming up and you want to know what to vote for, so you read over the different laws and just take a mental note of the ones that look pleasing to you while bypassing all the others. This is surface learning, you are simply memorizing something so you can “check off” the list on your ballot. Now let’s go a little deeper and say you decide to research those topics you find pleasing and really see what they are trying to achieve. By doing this you now have more of a reason and understanding of what to vote for. This can be seen as strategic learning, thus allowing yourself to really be informed about the issues at hand. Both of these will get the job done, but it is deep learning that will actually make the difference. This happens when you learn and research all there is on the topic. Instead of just memorizing the laws you like, you instead study all of them you can. You seek for good resources with unbiased information. You also leave any bias you have at the door and keep an open mind to things that may challenge your way of thinking. You let yourself learn on a deeper level and then you use that same pattern for everything you learn. It takes discipline and you have to throw your pride out the window.
The only way we can get rid of the mindset that “you’re either with me or against me” is to gain the knowledge necessary so we can just learn how to communicate. It doesn’t matter what age, race, or social status you come from. Knowledge is power and when used right it can be something that can unite people for the good. We can gain so much knowledge about the family unit by simply becoming more knowledgeable about thee families that surround us every day. We can unite families and empower families as we learn how to keep an open mind and worry more on the problem at hand then the people who may seem to cause such problems.
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