Academic Humility

Our fears are reflected in our writing. When we are afraid and we put up a defense to protect ourselves, we do things like overly hedge ourselves, pre-empting others' possible attacks or attack others to distract them from our weaknesses. It shows up in my writing, very visibly. Have you read someone's work and you did not like it, and did not know why? Perhaps, like me, they were defensive, and not truly open and inquiring, nor accepting and respecting of the intelligences of others. Even in my normal conversations, my parents have pointed out this defensive style of arguing that I have as well.

I've started reading a book by Andrew Bernstein (2010) called The Myth of Stress and at the chapter on conflict resolution, I received a powerful lesson on academic humility (or for real life, just humility). Academia is basically an arena and contest of ideas by different scholars. So foundational to academia, then, is how scholars behave towards one another, not only face-to-face but in how we write about their work. Do we put them down and not see the relevance of others' work to our own? Have we forgotten that the reason we have written something in that field was inspired by works of these pioneer scholars? What audacity to attack without respect what our predecessors have said and found!

The following are quotations from Bernstein (2010)'s book that spoke to my scholarly heart, though he had not intended it to.

This is the root of all strife and conflict in academia. A lesson that if we all muster, will lead to much more peace, and more respect for individuals and academic freedom:

Even if you think you're right, you can learn to respect the intelligence behind their position.

For this one, it helps us understand why scholars hold on so tightly to their beliefs, and why they reject ours. They are living in a context and system that reinforces what they believe, just like we are living in a different context and system that reinforces our own.

In reality, they should not see it my way at this time because people they trust are reinforcing their views.

In reality, they should not see it my way at this time because instead of listening to their side and having a calm exchange of perspectives, I've polarized our relationship by attacking or withdrawing, and this makes their seeing things my way at this time almost impossible, even if I am right.

Yes, the issue is not whether you are right or wrong. We cannot all be right, and all the time be right, sometimes we will be wrong. We can position our arguments firmly and strongly, without doing it in a manner that pushes others away. Think about it. Do you know how to lose?

Even if you are right, this kind of behavior pushes people away from seeing your point of view and tends to make them adhere to their own perspectives even more strongly.

Conflict takes place when one party thinks the other party's opinion isn't just different - it's wrong.

Knowing how to lose doesn't mean that you want to lose going forward. It means that when you do lose, you can recover quickly. Everyone loses sometime, but those who don't know how to lose will continue to dig themselves in deeper and drag others down with them. Those who do know how to lose, on the other hand, are able to quickly see their mistake and take full responsibility for this, making things easier for themselves and others.

Learning how to lose takes some practice, but it leads to great gains in the bigger picture.

I truly believe if I carry this attitude into my writing, my writing will be more respected by experts of the field (my reviewers) and be of much more use to readers. It's not about who's right and who's wrong. I'm just highlighting a case in Singapore when things are different from how others have said things had worked out in Hong Kong or the USA. I don't have to say they are wrong and I am right. We can both be right or wrong in the bigger scheme of things. My idea and findings supplement what others have found. Yes, it doesn't negate their work, it supplements their work and give the existing literature a more rounded feel, when previously it was more squarish.

Bernstein, A. (2010). The Myth of Stress: Where Stress Really Comes From and How to Live a Happier and Healthier Life. Atria Books. (I read the kindle version.)