OFFICIAL63 How does the professor feel about the student’s assertion that she tried to be objective?

[00:00.00]Listen to a conversation between a student and her sociology professor.
[00:05.65]Professor: So Miranda, I take it you wanted to talk with me about the draft of your paper, Herbert Spencer, that's quite an ambitious subject.
[00:13.23]Female student: Well, yes, but I just I don't get it. I mean, I worked really hard on it and I thought I understood his ideas pretty well.
[00:22.04]Professor: You did. I don't think any of my comments were directed towards your understanding of Spencer's theories, were they?
[00:28.22]Female student: Well, uh, maybe not, I guess, but well, in a couple places you wrote and and I guess I just don't get exactly what you meant.
[00:37.28]Professor: Yeah, I should have been clearer. The thing is, it's not so much what you've included. It's what you didn't. [00:44.06]I mean, basically you haven't presented much more than what's in the textbook. [00:48.73]I mean, like here. OK, ideas on individualism, ideas on competition, popular earlier twentieth century then falls out of favor. [00:58.95]See, this is all correct, but it's basically just a list of facts. So when I wrote and I was asking why. [01:06.83]Why was he popular in the early twentieth century? Why did he fall out a favor?
[01:11.51]Female student: Oh, well see... see the thing is when you asked us to choose a sociologist to write about. [01:18.80]Well, I didn't really know anything about any of them, so I just picked one, you know, and then I got to reading about his theories and well I I realized I don't agree with a lot of them, but... but I was trying really hard not to let that show in my paper. You know, to be objective and all.
[01:37.58]Professor: Ah..well, perhaps you were trying a little too hard. Being objective doesn't mean you're not allowed to be critical.
[01:44.75]Professor: Oh, OK. There's no requirement that you agree with what Spencer says. In fact,I want you to think critically.
[01:52.67]Female student: Oh, I do. I just, I mean, I didn't want to politicize everything, you know.
[01:58.12]Professor: But you don't have to to make a point. A better way to go about it is to provide a little historical perspective. [02:06.33]Look, what were the two questions I asked you just a minute ago?
[02:09.95]Female student: Ah, why was he popular and then became unpopular?
[02:14.15]Professor: Exactly. See in any field, particularly the social sciences, people theories, they come and go and there will always be people who agree with them and people who don't.
[02:24.58]Female student: OK, so you mean I should like incorporate other people's reactions to dispense Spencer's theories, like what was it about the early twentieth century that made a lot of people go along with them? And what change later on?
[02:37.40]Professor: That's it. It'll help your audience get a handle on Spencer ideas which are pretty complex. [02:42.62]Plus, it provides a kind of framework in which you can present your own point of view. [02:46.76]You can't very well take sides or expect your audience to if you haven't presented both sides.