Humility is a word that has been
thrown around a lot during our time together. What does it mean to you in the
context of educational research and, more specifically how might it relate to
your field of study/discipline.
When I hear the word humility, I think of Jane Vella, adult educator from a Freirian tradition (she knew and worked with Freire) whose mantra is to “pray for doubt” (2008, p. xix). I interpret Vella’s words to mean that, as practitioners, we need to remain humble and not become too sure of ourselves. Extending Vella’s words to becoming a researcher, I surely pray for doubt – doubt that my way of viewing the world is the only way, and to always remember that the human endeavor of knowledge creation is a flawed and arbitrary process. I suppose I’m equating doubt to humility in the way we would practice reflexivity in our work. Yes, to me, Vella's doubt is humility because our work concerns human beings.
When I hear the word humility, I think of Jane Vella, adult educator from a Freirian tradition (she knew and worked with Freire) whose mantra is to “pray for doubt” (2008, p. xix). I interpret Vella’s words to mean that, as practitioners, we need to remain humble and not become too sure of ourselves. Extending Vella’s words to becoming a researcher, I surely pray for doubt – doubt that my way of viewing the world is the only way, and to always remember that the human endeavor of knowledge creation is a flawed and arbitrary process. I suppose I’m equating doubt to humility in the way we would practice reflexivity in our work. Yes, to me, Vella's doubt is humility because our work concerns human beings.
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