Knowing nothing is something

You often hear me say in class and in our conversations that “I have nothing.” This statement likely needs a bit more explanation. What it means is that I have no definitive answer or in some cases no answer at all to your question

Sure, I can likely formulate a position or posit a for of an answer, but I typically default to the idea that I don’t really have anything to say at the moment. Many of the questions. Y’all ask in class or in advising are multi-layered and complicated, and I hesitate to start an “answer” because part of what you need to do in grad school is to work through your own answer without the influence of someone else’s voice in your head.

And you’ve heard me say this before, too. I don’t want you to be like me. You need to be like you. What I want you to do in grad school is to grow into yourself and learn a confidence associated to that, and I can help you with that no matter what you may want to research. Cause the research may get you the PhD (via your dissertation), but research for most academics is not the focus of your job. So to me, your research topic is only a small sliver of who you are or who you will be. That means I don’t have to know everything about your topic or even the course I’m teaching. I just need to give the resources to find out what parts of the field and its scholarship may resonate with you.

The other meaning of “I got nothing” is I’m still thinking the issue at hand, and I haven’t settled on anything yet. For example, when we were talking about outcomes and assessment in class (link to 9-30), we hit upon a spot of my own thinking as I work through what these terms may mean programmatically. While I totally buy into what I wrote with my co-authors, there are still some unanswered questions to consider around issues of diversity, inclusion, ethics, and fairness. All of these terms go along with the concept of opportunities for advancement. I’m mired in my own thinking right now so I needed to be honest about that.

The ability to openly acknowledge that we may not have all the answers, that knowledge making is often always in process, that we need to always be open to alternative perspectives and approaches is also a big key of graduate education. Believing in what you do know but always making room for things we don’t bring with it its own sense of freedom and confidence and know-how.