Introduction

“I’m right, and you’re a moron!” There are as many possible routes to disagreements as there are opinions. In class, these routes often unexpectedly result in students and faculty struggling with “anger, fear, and guilt,” and lacking skills and perspective to engage “controversial” topics respectfully. Controversial topics often elicit divergent viewpoints, with few individuals changing their views over the course of a discussion or semester. Thus our goal as educators is to teach students about “caring deeply, seeking to listen rather than change someone’s mind” Greater Good Magazine.

President Jonathan Koppell has called on us to do more in and outside of our classrooms to strengthen students’ abilities to engage in “civil debates and dialogue.” Read his article from US News (March 12, 2024) “Colleges Must Do More to Help Students Manage Conflict and Have Civil Debates.”

Read Political discussions in the classroom: Do’s and Dont’s for help with navigating classroom situations that are immediately stressful.

Strategies & tips at-a-glance

Validate/Affirm students’ concerns: Validate and affirm your own sense or a student’s concern that an inappropriate or offensive assertion or remark was made. Quickly assess if the comment is a misstatement you can correct or something more inflammatory that needs more intervention or discussion. For example, a student who identifies as another gender is upset that you mistakenly used the incorrect name for them when taking attendance. A quick solution is to apologize and immediately acknowledge your mistake. Explain that their “assumed” name has not been updated on the roster, but that you will make a note for the future. Thank them for their patience and understanding. Not only does this provide a “teachable tool” for other students, it demonstrates “how to” de-escalate a misunderstanding without dismissing legitimate feelings. See Essential Partners tips for “When Conversations Get Hot.”
Empathize: Practice and showcase empathy: seeking to understand each point as well as expressed points of view. Help students to understand that even in disagreement on an issue there can still be kindness. When possible, share a personal narrative to humanize the subject matter.
Differentiate between topic and issue: Differentiate between “topic” (or category of discussion) and “issue” (a matter that erupts, often from the larger topic of discourse). This can be introduced to students as a tool for mediating anger and opening up the discussion.
Use protocols to organize and structure discussions.
Encourage students to practice academic reasoning: teach them to support broader statements with evidence and sources, in the classroom and beyond.
- Teach students to use authentic sources: political platforms from each party or policy statements from each candidate, for example.
Use a collective inquiry approach: (Also sometimes presented as “Collaborative inquiry,” or “shared knowledge” ) This approach allows faculty to strengthen their craft or “knowledge” and provide a shared vision with students. Examples might be to engage in collective inquiry in a subject such as University health protocols, or to a controversial topic or current event. A framework of collective inquiry helps learners understand how and why these topics are relevant to their lives and how to fairly and impartially address them. For example, introducing students to a collective inquiry approach to a controversial topic can serve to interrupt line-drawing and opinionating and re-focus attention on learning: gathering information, understanding the context and mapping out the controversy. Essentially, moving back to inquiry and learning, and away from staking out positions.
Ensure that your use of examples is politically inclusive: If you use an example (a text for analysis, etc) that leans toward one political persuasion, use another example in the future that favors a different political persuasion
Shift to small groups: Shift from students listening only to the “teacher” by providing opportunities for them to share ideas, listen carefully to their peers, and practice being open to and respectful of others’ viewpoints. Use small group work to identify what the issues are then create a safe open classroom forum to share solutions.
Establish discourse through classroom citizenship rules: Help students build knowledge and respectful discourse skills to facilitate effective participation within the classroom and beyond. Collectively set and follow classroom rules and structures that support respectful and generative discussion, online and off. Ask students to share their suggestions for useful rules. Another strategy is to establish and remind students of “Classroom Citizenship” agreements, what they are, and when those rules or policies have been breached. Inflammatory language, snickering, shouting or exaggerated physical gestures (pointing) can be perceived as rude, threatening, and discourteous.
Invite written reflection: At the end of class, ask students to reflect on the conversation or discussion briefly. Ask a few questions such as: “What are you taking away from that discussion?” “Do you think we learned from the discussion?” “What would you like me to do to follow-up on this discussion?” The goal is to give students a private way to reflect and process their experience, and to give you insights on all students’ experiences.
Make clear to students that your assessments are politically unbiased. For writing or other tasks that require students to produce discourse, make clear to students that you evaluate their work based on the logic/support of their arguments and not on the political ideas expressed therein.
Pause the discussion: We need to be ready to facilitate constructive discussions, and when we’re not, we are allowed to stop. For more deescalation strategies, read Political Discussions in the Classroom: Do’s and Don’ts.

Organizations that Support Constructive Dialogue Across Differences

Constructive Dialogue Institute — a compendium of excellent, practical teaching strategies and lesson plans. Searchable-database.
Collaborative Discussion Toolkit — activities designed to improve creativity, critical thinking, cultural responsiveness, and civic collaboration.
Essential Partners. An organization dedicated to helping “people build relationships across differences to address their communities’ most pressing challenges.” Their resources provide guides to facilitating potentially difficult but interesting dialogues. For example:
- Guide to Dialogues about Israel-Palestine
- Guide to Conversations Across the Partisan Divide
Heterodox Academy, Teaching & Advocacy Resources. Heterodox Academy is a “nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization…comitted to advancing the principles of open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement.” For example:
- Toolkit for Increasing Inquiry, Viewpoint Diversity, and Constructive Disagreement
- Creating Connection to Enable Deep Discussion

Fostering Civil Discussion about Controversial Topics

Introduction

Strategies & tips at-a-glance

Organizations that Support Constructive Dialogue Across Differences

Further reading/viewing