We can teach our students how to disagree

Freedom of expression is fundamental to learning on our campuses and at the heart of a university’s existence. Protecting a student’s right to speak and another student’s right to disagree is an imperative. Every day, thousands of diverse ideas erupt in our classrooms and residence halls.

Surprisingly, however, formal instruction on how to exchange, consider and debate different perspectives is missing at many universities, according to a National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement.

Learning to ride a bicycle is not intuitive. Nor is knowing how to conduct a civil dialogue. While a broadly educated student can become familiar with the ideas and theories driving differences in points of view, the practice of exchanging those ideas with each other is a set of skills that can and should be taught.

Civic skills matter for democracy. As a recent study by Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy and Higher Education showed, five college campuses where students turn out to vote at rates greater than historically predicted also had intentionally integrated civic engagement practices within the curriculum and running parallel to it. In other words, these campuses have infused civic engagement into the college experience as a way to prepare students for effective citizenship.

Four key teaching practices were identified on these campuses as promoting successful civic participation:

• Faculty sought training to help them manage “hot” discussions with their students in the classroom.
  
  
• Faculty built trust among students by building together well-defined standards for behaviors during class discussions, including encouraging dissent and managing conflict, and then enforcing those standards.
• Diversity of backgrounds and ideologies among students was used as an asset in teaching
• Professors often played “devil’s advocate” by introducing dissenting and diverse views when key perspectives were absent in discussions.

If we are doing it right in higher education, students in their own self-discovery will become passionate, zealous and fierce about sharing ideas in hopes of making a difference in the world. Let’s make sure we have also taught them how to disagree: If Americans are only capable of shouting at each other, those of us in higher education will shoulder a part of the blame.