February 2024
Toxic civic discourse threatens our ability to hear each other. Schools can and should model something better.
So much will
change for the worse if Donald Trump is re-elected President next November. I keep
this in mind as I write Another View in 2024. Many writers will
examine the broader impact on our democracy, especially on a country like
Ukraine desperate to maintain its democracy, if Trump returns to the White
House in 2025.[i] I will
stick to my narrow focus on education. But there may be connections worth
pointing out between our current political crisis and our K-12 classrooms. And
what might help democracy survive.
Civil discourse is in a bad state. The
hostility many of us exhibit towards those with opposing views is unhealthy. (I
plead guilty.) I fear this hate and meanness will be in full view during the
2024 campaign.
|
Previous efforts to encourage student
voice and thoughtful classroom discussions: 35 years ago - “Getting Students
to Talk,” The Berkshire Eagle (MA) (March 20, 1988). 10 years ago - AV
#118 - “Let them talk” (Aug. 25, 2014). See Addendum A. |
|
“Debate and democracy: How Animal
Farm presents a uniquely teachable moment,” The Colorado Sun (Sept.
27, 2020).[ii] |
Our classrooms can offer something better. Our work won’t change the outcome on Nov. 5, 2024. But if educators see this as an opportunity, and a need, it can make difference for civil discourse in the future.
Speaking and Listening
How are we doing as citizens? Are we proud
of the shouting and shaming? How did we get to this place? Were we poorly
prepared? Weren’t our teachers helping us learn how to listen to different
points of view? How to engage in thoughtful and respectful conversations with
classmates—in examining and interpreting a story, a historical event, a
scientific theory? How to disagree, courteously?
Is our current toxic environment, in part, a consequence of what schools have failed to emphasize?
|
Schools showing the way -The Thomas MacLaren School, (Colorado Springs, CO) Deerfield Academy (MA) -"in support of inquiry" -Emma Willard School (NY) -Critical thinking See Addenda B-D |
Two reasons.
1. What our standards call for
This is what we say our schools should be doing. The vision for the Colorado Department of Education reads: “all students in Colorado will become educated and productive citizens capable of succeeding in society, the workforce, and life.”[iv] We know that citizenship in a democracy expects us to engage, with civility, in debates and decision-making.
Furthermore, for over 25 years our standards
have made speaking and listening skills integral to what we teach in our
classrooms, for all grades. Below are several updated standards (2020[v])
that articulate what we expect of juniors and seniors as they approach
graduation – and prepare to vote.
What if we made these standards a priority? Wouldn’t our civic discourse (“communication for the purpose of objectively enhancing the understanding of matters of shared or public concern”[vi]) be better?
From the Colorado Academic Standards - Reading, Writing
and Communicating
Subheading
- Oral Presentation and Listening [vii]-
Bold mine
Students can: a. Initiate and
participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with
diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on
others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. (CCSS:
SL.11-12.1[viii])
iii. Propel conversations by posing and
responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence; ensure a hearing
for a full range of positions on a topic or issue; clarify, verify, or
challenge ideas and conclusions; and promote divergent and creative
perspectives. (CCSS: SL.11-12.1c)
iv. Respond thoughtfully to diverse
perspectives; synthesize comments, claims, and evidence made on all sides
of an issue; resolve contradictions when possible; and determine what
additional information or research is required to deepen the investigation or
complete the task. (CCSS: SL.11-12.1d)
We must make speaking and listening
a priority because this is what our kids so badly need. Many students struggle
with their mental health. They need classrooms where they can be honest and be heard. Always the case, but perhaps more so
today. We must provide a safe place that fosters respectful dialogue, where
students learn to consider (and not mock) different perspectives, and where
they feel encouraged to speak up. In doing so, many will find they are less
alone.
But no one talks about this. Two recent
articles in Education Week discuss everything but this point: “Why
America Has a Youth Mental Health Crisis, and How Schools Can Help,” (Oct. 25,
2023); a second, “Students Are Missing School Because They’re Too Anxious to
Show Up” (Nov. 2, 2023). I understand many students need one-on-one counseling.
I know that deep-seated anxieties will not disappear because a classroom
becomes a place where a boy or girl can find their voice and be heard. Still,
all kids benefit if schools and teachers make this a priority. As our standards
say they should.
We hear ad nauseum “students aren’t engaged
enough.” We explore a range of fixes, but no one talks about something as basic
as how we can foster meaningful conversations. Where students are engaged.
Teachers must have school leaders who will
support such an emphasis. As a teacher, I was grateful when, after a classroom
visit, the principal’s evaluation of me addressed such matters as:
· how well students were participating (and how many participated; was I making a good effort to hear from most everyone?);
· how much I did not talk, and how well I encouraged students to express their thoughts – and to express them in complete sentences and even paragraphs, not in three word “answers”;
· how even-handed and courteous I was in responding to various perspectives.
Teachers are proud to nurture respectful
discussion and broad participation. In a democracy, it matters.
Anybody but …
and the nuclear button
“With Cross Talk, Lies and Mockery, Trump
Tramples Decorum in Debate With Biden,” NY Times, 9/29/20[ix]
In doing research on the Cuban Missile
Crisis for my book, Shelter – A Cold War Memory, I learned how President
John Kennedy brought together a dozen experienced leaders, a group
known as ExComm,[x] to advise him. Kennedy often sat in. He allowed spirited debate. He sought their insights. What choice could best
prevent nuclear war? For several days, little consensus. But the President
listened.
Recall the first
Trump-Biden debate four years ago. Recall the bluster of the then-President and
leader of the free world. A man incapable of respectful back and forth, of
actual debate. Unwilling to listen to his opponent—or the moderator. An example
then, or now, for our students - the citizens of tomorrow?
Should Trump
be re-elected, students will depend even more on good teachers and schools to
model what the White House and our culture do not. We can start to model
something better now, just in case.
Addendum A
Several excerpts from
AV #118 - “Let them talk” (Aug. 25, 2014) Bold mine
Topic:
classroom discussion. Balance is my larger theme … Let’s make sure we offer
Colorado students a well-rounded, rich curriculum—not one narrowed by “what
gets tested.”
“Even among gifted kids, the
understanding of Shakespeare takes a good degree of collaboration and
conversation. … When do we sit down, with our play, and analyze the
characters, and figure out the author’s intent, and uncode his humor? …
Students learn from one another, and that conversation is the richness of
education—if we’re talking not about schooling but about education.”
- Kristin Kearns Jordan (founder of the Bronx Preparatory Charter School), “School on a Hill: On the design and redesign of American education,” Harper’s, Fall 2001.
A warning – “Who is talking to whom?”
“Speaking and listening—essential
preliteracy skills—are also declining. Sitting in any Starbucks, you can easily
witness this—parents regularly checking their phones, reviewing messages,
texts, etc.; small children sitting quietly in their strollers with iPads. Who
is talking to whom? …. I find this ironic as we aggressively roll out the
Common Core State Standards, which include significantly increased linguistic
demands for all language skills—especially listening and speaking for all grade
levels.”
- Dennis Terdy – 40-year career
as teacher, administrator, consultant, Education Week, 6/11/14.
At
what grade can we begin to foster good discussion? As early as possible!
Lisa Hansel writes: “we learn how to build knowledge before children can read.” For support, she quotes approvingly from Common Core’s “Standard 10” for grades K-5: “Children in the early grades (particularly K-2) should participate in rich, structured conversations with an adult in response to the written texts that are read aloud, orally comparing and contrasting as well as analyzing and synthesizing….” http://edexcellence.net/articles/how-to-improve-my-brother%E2%80%99s-keeper-emphasize-a-content-rich-curriculum
Junior Great Books articulates “Shared
Inquiry”
In shared inquiry, participants learn to give full consideration to the ideas of others, to weigh the merits of opposing arguments, and to modify their initial opinions as the evidence demands. They gain experience in communicating complex ideas and in supporting, testing, and expanding their own thoughts. In this way, the shared inquiry method promotes thoughtful dialogue and open debate, preparing its participants to become able, responsible citizens, as well as enthusiastic, lifelong readers.” http://www.greatbooks.org/professional-learning/what-is-shared-inquiry/version
Argument – From Neil Postman’s The End of Education (Vintage Books, 1996)
"America was the first nation to be argued into existence. The Declaration of Independence is an argument, and it was composed as such. Tom Paine’s The Rights of Man is an argument….
“Of course, all the arguments have a theme
that is made manifest in a series of questions: What is freedom? What are its
limits? What is a human being? What are the obligations of citizenship? What
is meant by democracy? And so on…. But which ones are the right answers? We
don’t know….
“This, it seems to me, is a fine and noble
story to offer as a reason for schooling: to provide our youth with the
knowledge and will to participate in the great experiment; to teach them how to
argue, and to help them discover what questions are worth arguing about; and of
course to make sure they know what happens when arguments cease. No one is
excluded from the story. Every group has made good arguments, and bad ones. All
points of view are admissible. The only thing we have to fear is that someone
will insist on putting in an exclamation point when we are not yet finished.”
(pages 72-74)
Addendum B
“when students
can respectfully disagree”
Classroom
conversations at The Thomas MacLaren School
A charter
school in Colorado Springs, CO (founded 2009)
Bridget
Rector, Assistant Head, Upper School
“One of
my favorite things to see is when students can respectfully disagree with each
other or with an argument that the author is making and then keep working to
investigate until either some resolution is reached or maybe they come to the
conclusion that this is just a really thorny idea that will invite multiple
perspectives.”
“Because
our conversations are rooted in texts that wrestle with complex ideas, we are
able to resist simplistic or personal interpretations, which I think provide
excellent training for the rest of life.”
https://www.maclarenschool.org/home
Addendum C
“fostering in students a willingness to listen deeply and
patiently”
A framework “in support of inquiry” –
for independent schools
Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA
(founded 1797)
(My alma mater, class of 1967)
Deerfield Academy has drafted a framework for independent schools in support of inquiry.*
“The framework,” according to Dr. John Austin, Head of
School, “… rests on three pillars. The first pillar is the
importance of expressive freedom for schools and students, centered on
three dispositions:
·
“Courage of
expression: cultivating in students the ability to express confidently and
courageously their own opinions and arguments, even when they run counter
to prevailing orthodoxies and peer beliefs;
·
“Conscientiousness of
expression: providing students with the skills and opportunities to
practice speaking with consideration, civility, and temperateness;
·
“Toleration of
expression: fostering in students a willingness to listen deeply and
patiently, even in the face of provocation and arguments with which they
might disagree.”
“Fall Family Weekend Remarks,” From Deerfield Magazine,
Fall 2023, Volume 78/3
*Work on this framework funded by the Edward E. Ford
Foundation.
Addendum D
“Fostering Critical Thinking”
Emma Willard School, Troy, NY
(founded 1814)
An interview
with Drew Levy, history teacher and department chair, Emma Willard School (where
I taught 40 years ago):
How do
you balance perspectives and encourage students to think critically in this
politically divisive climate?
“We’re going
to encounter lots of people who we disagree with. But part of our task is to
attempt to move beyond judgment, and to try to get into a place where we are
searching for understanding. ….. one of the things that I like to try to
require and encourage of my students is the ability to be able to argue a position
that they don’t necessarily agree with. Even when we’re talking about the most contentious
of issues, even when we’re talking about issues that for some students might be
deeply personal. And to understand that we’re doing that in large part in order
to try to exercise a necessary ability to practice that thing that as a culture
we’re not doing particularly well—listening to other people.”
“I think attempting
to articulate those positions that you don’t agree with is a really great way
of practicing that task.”
“Fostering
Critical Thinking,” Interview by Julia Gabriela, The Magazine of Emma Willard
School, Fall/Winter 2023.
Endnotes
[i]
“Next year’s great danger – What a Trump victory in 2024 would mean for the
rest of the world,” special edition – The World Ahead 2024, The Economist,
Nov. 18-24, 2023.
[ii] Huidekoper, The Colorado Sun, Sept. 27. 2020. https://coloradosun.com/2020/09/27/debate-and-democracy-peter-huidekoper-jr/
Began
this way:
The end of debate, the end of democracy
The election approaches.
Presidential debates begin. Everywhere we see articles and books on the threat
to our democracy.
Children will listen. Students
sense the divide. Many perceive how important Nov. 3 will be.
Teachers have a role. To be sure,
not to use the classroom to advocate our own personal beliefs.
Instead, to encourage discussion
- even debate! - about key ideas that speak to the moment.
If I were teaching again, my choice would be a close reading of George Orwell’s short fable, Animal Farm.
[iii] I overstate; I am aware of organizations that have developed such assessments. For example, PARCC Speaking and Listening Assessments. https://www.lumoslearning.com/llwp/teachers-speak/overview-of-the-parcc-speaking-and-listening-assessments-by-julie-c-lyons.html And several groups in Colorado have sought ways to measure “the whole child”: https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2014/7/30/21091892/project-seeks-to-measure-students-non-academic-skills/
[v]
2020 Colorado Academic Standards - https://www.cde.state.co.us/coreadingwriting/2020cas-rw-hs
[vi]
Knight-Capron Library,
University of Lynchburg (Virginia) - https://libraryguides.lynchburg.edu/civicdiscourse.
[vii] 2020
Colorado Academic Standards - https://www.cde.state.co.us/coreadingwriting/2020cas-rw-hs
[viii] CCSS - Common Core State Standards. From the Colorado Academic Standards: “The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects include a separate standard for Language. In this document, those Language expectations are integrated into the four standards above as appropriate, p.8. https://www.cde.state.co.us/coreadingwriting/2020cas-rw-hs
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