Civil Discourse

So here it is, 5:00 on a Sunday evening, and I've completed virtually nothing for my Monday morning class. But I have a good reason. My youngest son called and we were on the phone for nearly two hours. A half hour later, my oldest son called and we were on the phone for over three hours! This is very unusual. About an hour in, after we had caught up on our respective weeks, we started talking about the situation in Paris. (I haven't written about this, although it's been on my mind since Frideay night when I first saw the news coverage.) That led us into conversations about compassion, sympathy, the American military, and international relations in general. I had talked with some of these things with my youngest son earlier. He is more apt to engage in philosophical discussions with me than either of my other two. Having this kind of long conversation with my oldest son (by phone, at least; we tend to engage more when we are face to face) doesn't happen often, and I was struck by two things: his knowledge of world events and his great concern/fear for his daughters' safety.

After I had spoken two of my sons, I couldn't help but wonder why I can't engage my students in similar discourse. Of course, the obvious reason is that my sons and I know each other and feel comfortable sharing our thoughts. Also, we have similar ideologies on many issues. (I would welcome my sons' views whether they were the same or different from mine.) I really believe that this kind of knowledge-sharing is the best way to learn; even though our ideas are similar, they are not identical, and different perspectives always lead to greater understanding. Often, I can engage students, but I'm having a hard time with one class this semester. Maybe it's just these particular students; each class has its own personality, after all, and several times when I've attempted to initiate discussion, it was obvious that half the class hadn't read the material. By the way, if this happens tomorrow, I will make them sit in class and read, a big waste of time but a good way to make the point.

It's hard to talk civilly about sensitive issues, especially for young people. I get that. Add in the fear of "getting it wrong" and it's really no surprise that some students don't want to join in. Part of what I'm trying to do is to show them that it's okay to express themselves -- as long as they do so respectfully and listen to the viewpoints of others -- and that there isn't always a right or wrong answer; there can be multiple interpretations and mostly what I want to know is that they've read and understood. It's harder than you might think.