In business, objectivity means concentrating on facts and nothing more. In business, objectivity usually means concentrated effort in building relationships. With few exceptions, all successful businesses and most highly paid professionals in business are focused on results. They put their thoughts about how to achieve those results in writing down and commit to carrying out until they are successful. When they set forth their objectives, they outline the steps they will take to achieve those objectives.
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In education, the term 'opinion' is used to refer to an individual's personal viewpoint about something or an opinion that they hold about something based on personal experience or knowledge. According to twentieth century philosopher Kurt Goldstein (1958), objectivism is "the most realistic outlook on life possible." He defines objectives as, "the belief that there is no moral truth, only idealism or sham science which can be verified by direct experience." Since the word 'opinion' indicates what someone thinks, Goldstein believes it is a better word to use than 'faction,' which suggests that there is some fixed and unalterable central reality that exists independent of individual opinions.
Goldstein describes objectivity as "a certain attitude toward the world, a definite attitude toward the means to attain reality, the standard against which the values of right and wrong are evaluated." With objectivity, there is no bias involved because there is no subject involved. A proposition is viewed as having objective truth if its truth conditions are satisfied without reliance on an individual's subjective view of reality. Objective truth is a higher reality than the world of individual perceptions.
Since the word 'subjectivity' indicates that there are no individual perceptions, there is no bias involved with objectivity. If there were no individual perceptions, then objectivity would be vacuous. The two concepts are unrelated to each other and therefore cannot coincide. The only way to contradict both concepts is to reject objectivity itself.
It is important to remember that biases and subjective realities exist even for teachers teaching in the classroom. Every teacher has a personal viewpoint, even those who claim to be objective at the same time. A bias can creep into the learning environment through a teacher's reliance on one's own opinion of how things should be taught, and there will always be a possibility for a teacher's bias. A teacher may lean too far in one direction or be too far in another direction, thus creating an uncertainty about the effectiveness of the class.
The challenge for teachers is not whether they are engaged in partial subjectivity or objectivity, but rather whether they engage in both. Teachers who value objectivity must reconcile their personal view of what is factual and what is ideal with what is required by the subject they are teaching. Teachers who value subjectivity must reconcile their personal view of what is ideal and what is factual with what is actually being taught in the classroom. This challenge is especially acute for online instructors. It may be possible to improve students' understanding of the material by allowing them to assume a greater degree of control over how the materials are presented, but teachers cannot take the knowledge they gain from controlling the content of the curriculum completely for granted.
While the two perspectives are often at odds with one another, it is not the ideal scenario for either. It may be possible to understand why the two are at odds, but it is more important to strive for consistency between the two. Scientific objectivity must be coupled with the ability to make reasonable judgments about the scientific data, regardless of one's personal bias. Only when these two desires are strongly endorsed can objective standards be met as they apply to scientific knowledge.
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With this perspective in mind, journalists must also work to address the balance they need to maintain between objectivity and subjectivity while preparing and reporting stories about specific subjects. Both journalists and editors must make judgments about the science, facts, figures, and other information that they are reporting on. They may differ in the level of subjectivity they use in their reasoning. This does not pose a problem in most fields, where facts and figures are fairly clear-cut and easily understood. However, when the range of possible opinion is broad and is not subject to easy consensus, objectivity and subjective knowledge can conflict with one another, making it difficult for journalists to provide balanced coverage.
