SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - There’s at least one place in the United States where you can still find civil discourse.
It’s in the course catalogue at Saint Mary’s College.
The offering is an elective that grew out of the 2016 presidential election.
“What I like about my course is you don’t have to wait for politicians to be different, you can be different,” said Professor Megan Zwart with Saint Mary’s College.
Zwart developed a course that teaches students how to talk to people they disagree with on issues such as immigration, guns, abortion, and kneeling during the national anthem.
“You know polarization, I think I remember feeling after the 2016 election like my own social media had become really kind of an echo chamber or a bubble. I only saw views that aligned with my own,” Zwart explained.
Students learn to stop seeing people with differing opinions as villains and monsters and to have a dialogue instead of a debate.
They’re also encouraged to replace defensiveness with curiosity.
“I think curiosity for instance comes really naturally. Think of how kids want to ask questions, want to understand the world, but as we get older and we interact with people have really different views from us that curiosity is often short circuited by defensiveness. So instead of the sort of defensive question how can you possibly believe this? You think of, how can I ask that in a curious way so you know what is it about your experiences that have lead you to that view?” said Zwart.
The civil discourse course is offered each fall and meets six times a semester.
Copyright 2020 WNDU. All rights reserved.
"discourse" - Google News
November 05, 2020 at 05:17AM
https://ift.tt/3jUETMF
Saint Mary's College offers elective on civil discourse - WNDU
"discourse" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2KZL2bm
https://ift.tt/2z7DUH4
No comments:
Post a Comment