THE ROLE OF CRITICAL THINKING, MORALITY, & RELATIVISM in the classroom and society Essay

A teacher’s philosophical stance boils over into their teaching practices.   At times, this is done intentionally to persuade the audience, to advocate a stance, or to compare two sets of ideas or situations.   At times this can be done to promote solidarity among people who might appear as distinct or dissimilar groups within society.   A clear example of this can found in Dr. Curry Malott’s (2008) work, A Call to Action: An Introduction to Education, Philosophy, and Native North America when he uses a Marxist paradigm to demonstrate why “it is self-destructive for anybody, Native and non-Native alike, to form an alliance with predator/colonizer/capitalist” (p. 86) because “the ruling class has proven that they have no more concern about the people who are supposed to come from the same ‘racial stock’ [since]… their motivation is profit.” (p. 115).   This is one of the rarest forms of writing because many writers and sociologists are taught to look for differences / contrasts between groups of people.   An unintentional consequence on this is that people focus more on one another’s differences despite the fact that in many instances we have more in common with one another than we give each other credit.   Another part of this may relate to how we like to view ourselves as unique and in order to maintain this type of schema we search for evidence that reaffirms our belief.
Unfortunately, in many instances a teacher or author uses their voice to highlight the differences between races, sexes or cultures.   An elitist philosophy or one that highlights a group of people’s differences becomes prevalent in times of political and economic instability (such as war) or times where there is an influx of immigration.   The Nativist movements that arise in tandem with an increase of immigration into the United States is an example of the friction that arises when the dominant culture feels threatened, whether it be a result of a new group of people competing for the same jobs or...