Representative Student Work

Now That You Know
When knowledge becomes responsibility

Assignment Context

Now That You Know is a reflective writing assignment delivered in conjunction with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It asks students to confront a difficult shift: what happens when learning makes neutrality impossible.

Students are not asked to express opinion, propose solutions, or arrive at moral clarity. Instead, they are asked to examine how new knowledge, particularly knowledge about harm, colonial history, inequity, and mistrust in healthcare, changes their relationship to the system they are studying and, often, the system they are preparing to enter.

The assignment explicitly acknowledges that some learning cannot be integrated without loss: loss of innocence, simplicity, distance, or comfort. Strong submissions do not resolve this tension. They stay with implication.

The excerpts below represent some of the most rigorous and courageous writing in the course.

When Knowing Changes Responsibility

HTHSCI 3DT3 student, 2025

“Before this assignment, I believed that learning about injustice would naturally lead to clarity about what to do. Instead, I felt more uncertain than ever. Understanding the history of harm in healthcare did not give me answers; it gave me responsibility.

I could no longer rely on good intentions or assume that neutrality was possible. I became aware of how easily I benefit from structures that harm others, even when I am not actively causing that harm.

What unsettled me most was realizing that this knowledge does not come with a clear path forward. It simply makes it harder to look away.”

Comment
This excerpt demonstrates adaptive learning as moral work. The student resists resolution and names the burden of implication that accompanies understanding.

The Loss of Simplicity

HTHSCI 3DT3 student, 2025

“I used to believe that understanding a system would make it easier to navigate. Instead, it made me more aware of who is asked to absorb uncertainty, grief, and risk.

What I wanted from this assignment was reassurance that I was doing the right thing. What I learned instead was that responsibility often means acting without reassurance, and being willing to carry uncertainty rather than resolve it.”

Comment
This reflection shows learning that shifts from information to obligation. The student identifies a recurring tension in the course: the desire for reassurance and the discipline of moving forward without it.

Writing From Implication, Not Distance

HTHSCI 3DT3 student, 2024

“What I did not anticipate was how difficult it would be to write without retreating into abstraction. It was easier to describe systems than to acknowledge what my place in those systems makes possible.

I noticed how quickly I used intellectual language to avoid discomfort. The more I engaged with the material, the more I recognized how contemporary healthcare continues to carry historical harm forward.

The question stopped being what happened, and became what continues.”

Comment
This excerpt demonstrates conceptual courage. The student moves from historical framing to present responsibility and names avoidance as part of the work rather than something outside it.

Learning Without Closure

HTHSCI 3DT3 student, 2025

“I kept searching for a way to end this reflection with something hopeful or resolved. Eventually I realized that doing so would be dishonest.

The knowledge I gained does not point neatly toward redemption or repair. It asks for restraint, humility, and continued listening. That feels unsatisfying, but also more truthful.”

Comment
This reflection demonstrates disciplined restraint. The student resists the pull toward optimism as a form of escape and allows uncertainty to remain intact.

When Silence Becomes Ethical

HTHSCI 3DT3 student, 2024

“I noticed how often I wanted to respond quickly, to say something that sounded respectful or informed. Sitting with the material made me realize that silence can be an ethical choice, not avoidance.

There are moments where speaking too quickly reproduces harm, especially when the impulse to speak is about easing my own discomfort.”

Comment
This excerpt shows ethical maturity. The student identifies silence as an active stance rather than passivity and links restraint to responsibility.

Summary

This work represents some of the most demanding learning in the course. The excellence here lies not in moral certainty, but in moral restraint. Students demonstrate the ability to remain implicated without collapsing into defensiveness, guilt, or premature resolution.

These reflections show learning that alters identity and responsibility. They reflect a core teaching stance of the course: that adaptive learning often involves loss, discomfort, and uncertainty, and that the work is not to eliminate these tensions, but to learn how to carry them with integrity.

Please Note: Attribution and Student Recognition

All excerpts are presented anonymously to protect privacy and support intellectual risk-taking. If a student recognizes their work and would like to be credited, they are welcome to contact the course instructor directly and share the original submission. With permission, attribution can be added.

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