Postmodernism in My Life

Postmodernism has at its heart general distrusts of grand theories and ideologies, thus accepting that all knowledge is constructed in people’s minds and is not true reality. However, reality is in the eye of the beholder and one cannot claim that their reality is superior to that of another because these are solely human creations. This theory accurately explains the religious and educational aspects of my life.

Postmodernism creates a new tolerance with religion because it means never questioning the authority of another religion. On the flip side, however, it declares that no one religion can claim itself the bearer of the truth, because after all, the reality is in the eye of who which perceives it. This claim goes against my entire childhood because I went to a Catholic grade school, where I learned that following Catholic ideologies and God’s words was the only correct way to live my life. However, in my high school experience, I have run into the postmodern philosophy and it has run completely counter to Scripture and virtually challenges every biblical truth that was pounded into my head for 8 years. The postmodern ideology on religion now correctly explains my life because at OPRF I have entered into a new kind of social sphere, where acceptance of all kinds of people is more widespread than I have ever experienced in the past. Everyone’s reality is accepted because people are free to equally interpret the idea of reality.

Ideally, in postmodern education, it is believed that teachers are no longer the transmitters of information, but rather facilitate children’s construction of their own knowledge. However, teachers cannot avoid imposing their own moral values on their students. This makes it important that teachers promote good values, as their students absorb this information and use it to are construct their identities and their own personal opinions. Again, going back to my grade school education, lessons were taught at us and we were not given the opportunity to create our own knowledge, However, this postmodern theory accurately explains my educational experience at OPRF because teachers speak with a more vague tone, allowing students to interpret information how it fits in their mind. The best example of the intellectual freedom I’ve experienced at OPRF is the presidential election. During the presidential election, it would have been easy for my teachers to talk down a certain candidate and promote the one they supported. However, my teachers were unbiased while educating my classes on each candidate and did not express their personal opinions, allowing students to create their own position based on the knowledge relayed by our teachers.

Postmodernism ideology is a better fit for society because society as well as individuals progress when people are given the power to choose and attain their own goals. Many people would claim that postmodernism does not affect their daily lives, however its ideas shape our culture through art and commodities without us even recognizing it. Looking at it in retrospect, I realize that postmodernism has drastically affected my perspective and my daily life in the few years from grade school to high school.