A quick recovery

And back in the good favor of my biology professor.

I told a soc professor about my mixing sociology and biology, at which point she screamed, "GOOD! That's how you learn! Keep doing it!" Another professor added, "This is a social justice school....it should apply to every class, not just sociology classes." I understood what they meant, but I didn't think I'd really do it.....

Until today, my friends.

We were going over the basics of what science is. You know, process, experimental design, all of that. One of the things we learned is how a fact is nothing more than something that the majority of people agree on. There are no real absolute truths, or at least not in what we were discussing. There were some other points made about how the time in history helps to alter science, blah blah blah. Basically, science is, for the most part, socially constructed. Because humans, who are socially constructed beings, created science and come up with different ways to use it.

So, I raised my hand and said, "It is socially constructed."

A few moments passed, after the professor wrote my answer on the board (and agreed with me, by the way...that is important), and some other people came up with some more ideas.

THEN--this kid in the front row raised his hand and said that he would like to contest the idea that science is socially constructed.

If I said I didn't have a twitch in my bathing suit area at the thought of debating that, I would be lying. So I sat there, holding back a smile, and listened to this kid tell me why.

I understood his points. They were valid. What he wasn't getting were my points. So I raised my hand when he was done.

The debate lasted for quite a few minutes. The first five minutes or so was just me and this kid going around in circles. He just wasn't getting what I was saying. Then, other people in the class started chiming in. I had a very quick memory of a few weeks ago, when I was misunderstood by my classmates, and was prepared to be misunderstood again.

But they all were defending me. And trying to rephrase what I was saying so this kid would get it. And he never did.

Finally the professor was asked his opinion. He started off being very diplomatic, and at the end stated all the reasons why science was socially constructed.

Point Tory.

I am so glad that my last semester here isn't filled with classes I dread anymore. I feel this redeemed me in a weird sort of way....like I'm not just the crazy lady who sits in the back of the classroom and spews out shit that doesn't apply to what's going on. It just felt really good to be understood.