Evolution of Thought

After reading Nancy Sommer's "Between the Drafts", I am fully convinced that I found the reason or goal of receiving a college education. In this essay, Sommer addresses the problem that seems to be more prevalent in today's society. One of the most important points that I feel is made is this essay is when Sommer exposes that everything does not have to be an "either/or" proposition. There should be more than two solutions to a problem. In fact, there is. This mentality of only having two solutions to a problem is actually a stage of thinking that college students go through, according to William Perry. His "Perry scheme" is based on a study of Harvard students and this longitudinal study points out that college students have the potential to go through the four stages of thinking that leads to the ultimate goal that Sommer says by "having authority over what you say." These four stages include dualistic thinking (which is the "either/or" propositions), multiplistic thinking (which is the realization that there could be more than two solutions to a problem), relativistic thinking (the discovery of what the solutions to a certain problem actually are), and commitment to relativism (the "authority" that one declares for oneself). I feel that Nancy Sommer, throughout this essay, is bringing notice to this transformation through the Perry scheme that she and her students are going through. I feel that this transformation is key in order to become a fully functional member of society.

This is not the first class that has brought this point up to me in a lesson or article and that fact is the reason I feel that I realize why people receive a college education. Three of my professors, so far, have preached this evolution of thought from a dualistic thinker to an unconventional, independent thinker. Many problems with our society these days include the fact that many people are still stuck as dualistic thinkers where we cannot meet a middle ground and this leads to major conflict among people. Our government is a great example of dualistic thinkers. Just think about the candidates that we have running for our government positions, Republican or Democratic. That's it. There are some middle ground candidates, but very few get recognized by enough people to make them influential. We as a society need to step back from this type of thinking and start noticing that there are more than two sides to a story. Approaching any problem can include loads of solutions that all can be the "correct" solution. Nancy Sommer is also right when she points out that her past experiences has given her a unique authority to declare her opinion to people. This is a universal concept and it should be taken into consideration whenever there is a problem that needs to be solved. We need to stop being so close minded as a society and start giving the benefit of the doubt to any person who voices his/her opinion about a problem.