Close-Minded Thinking

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Recommended: moral education in secondary schools

Close-Minded Thinking A writer's mind should not take on blame for a bad example of writing. The writer’s opinion should always be valued. Perfectly acceptable as it may be to label a writer’s facts or information as incorrect, to point out a writer's own opinions, thoughts, views, or takes on a subject as incorrect displays a failure to connect with the writer. When a writer expresses their opinion openly and in return, a professional labels the piece as a display of close-minded thinking and badly argued writing, it would be wise to search within the words themselves to uncover a hidden voice or manner in which the author wrote them. This particular teacher does not deserve a pass for his criticisms, instead, chastised for a lack of understanding on where the writer comes from. Still, the writer makes the error in assuming an absolute moral to which all should acknowledge exists. One could in fact point out that the High School teacher displays close-minded thinking. Perhaps the writer comes from a background in which his parents from very early on instituted the opinion of homosexuality as being immoral. After all, our parents, peers, and tutors are responsible for instilling upon us our basis for moral understanding. While we all might not agree in full with them, they do have at least a slight impact on how we view the world. Consider, for example, Sarah Vowell and her relationship with her father in Shooting Dad. Sarah managed to be in complete disagreement with her father on many issues at a young age; guns were the primary example given to emphasize this. Sarah grew up with a belief that she did not take after her dad, yet in the end, she opened her eyes, thus revealing the similarities of character between ... ... middle of paper ... ...r’s beliefs with one another. Both the student and writer in the scenario given are, for lack of knowledge, making unfair and unjustifiable claims. The student has a misconception that homosexuality should be a moral absolute, and the teacher fails to understand the moral background of the student. All our morals are shaped early on in are lives, yet can be altered through experience and understanding. Works Cited Coles, Robert. “I Listen to My Parents and I Wonder What They Believe.” Open Questions: Readings for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005. Saenz, Benjamin. “Exile: El Paso, Texas.” Open Questions: Readings for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005. Vowell, Sarah. “Shooting Dad.” Open Questions: Readings for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005.

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