How to Foster Civil Discourse in the Classroom

"Universities were once celebrated as places where ideas could be challenged, debated, and refined. Classrooms were meant to be arenas for civil discourse -spaces where disagreement was not only tolerated but valued. Yet that ideal is under strain. Divisions between social and political groups have deepened, and polarization-especially in the U.S.-has reached historic levels. Many instructors now hesitate to invite disagreement for fear that conversations will spiral into conflict. But learning depends on dialogue. And dialogue depends on difference."

"A class in which everyone agrees all the time isn't a productive learning environment. Groups that avoid conflict may appear harmonious, but they learn little. As Stanford professor Kathleen Eisenhardt and her colleagues once wrote, "The absence of conflict is not harmony-it's apathy." Tell your students: I value disagreement. That's where learning happens. True discovery comes from engaging different viewpoints and uncovering what each person knows that others don't."

Universities were once celebrated as places where ideas could be challenged, debated, and refined. Classrooms were meant to be arenas for civil discourse where disagreement was not only tolerated but valued. That ideal is now under strain as divisions between social and political groups deepen and polarization has reached historic levels. Many instructors hesitate to invite disagreement for fear that conversations will spiral into conflict, yet learning depends on dialogue and difference. Instructors should make constructive disagreement a goal, explicitly valuing dissent because discovery comes from engaging different viewpoints. Reframing debates as collaborative discourse encourages students to see 'us versus the problem' rather than 'me versus you.' Students will take intellectual risks only when they feel psychologically safe.

Read at Psychology Today