Tag Archives: critical thinking

Teach Dialogue, Not Debate

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Most high schools have a debate team. I’m not against competition in sports, there’d be no game if no one won and no one lost. But, I believe that the object of a debate team has been modeled on the objective of competitive sport. That is, to present your side forcefully enough, without nuance, to overcome your opponent.  Debate, then, is about being right. It is about being staunch and unable to be swayed in your fixed opinion. It is about being the winner.

Dialogue is listening thoughtfully, with an open mind. Open enough to hear another’s ideas. Open enough to possibly even rethink your opinion. Debate, by its very nature, leads to rift, while dialogue is an attempt to bring people closer together. In dialogue, we listen to understand, not to reply.

In a political debate, one would not expect one’s opponent to say,

“You’ve got a good point there.”

Whether or not you actually think your opponent is wrong, you must make the voting public believe that your opponent is an imbecile.

Debate is a verbal sparring, dialogue a verbal sharing. In classrooms all over the country, students in debate classes are asked to either choose, or are given, a side to defend. Their assignment is to quash the other team, whether they throughly believe their argument or not. Good practice for being in a political race, but not much else.

In a world that is ever increasingly polarized, debate polarizes. I want to live in a world of dialogue, in which people share ideas respectfully. I think most people want the same.  I believe that listening is a skill as well as an intention and that it can be taught in school, the earlier the better. 

Debate class teaches the student to shut down ideas from the other side. Let’s teach our children to be interested in exploring differences of opinion and to search for deeper understanding of each other’s points of view. Let’s show them the possibility of being challenged and inspired by new ideas that may contradict their own.

Social media is rife with alienating sound bites, a virtual debate team. What side are YOU on? If you are on the wrong side (aka the other side), you are a fool. There is no holding back what media has increasingly become, but in classrooms what we desperately need to encourage is patient listening, open mindedness, collaboration, and heartfelt communication. For it is only through communication that we build a community. 

If developing an open mind can be taught, so can close mindedness. The smugness of winning a debate is a cold victory. Most issues are complicated, many layered affairs. Let’s learn to hear, instead of to silence. To assent rather than to insist. Even if we disagree, we can strive to respect an opposing opinion. There may be glimmers of light within it that we are not privy to understanding. 

The future holds an abundance of complications for the students of today. To solve them will take global outreach, an ability to learn from one another and to compromise. Words have energy and power. How are we going to use their power? 

Thank you for listening.

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“The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue”

Malala Yousafzai 

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The Goal of True Education

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“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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From the time we first encourage a toddler to share his toys we begin the process of building social emotional skills. In truth, it begins before that-with the first touch, the first eye contact, the first whispered words…building intelligence and character begins at birth and follows us to our last day on earth.

Education is not just about schooling-but as children spend most of their time at school from an early age, school is a vital part of their foundation. The task is: How do we, as educators, create schools that teach children to think intensively and critically-schools that build character?

I believe it begins with respect. When we respect the child and, at the same time, model respect for others, including the immediate and extended environment, we create an atmosphere of love and trust. We must not forget to respect ourselves, as well-use our time wisely and live healthily, both in body and mind. It follows that if adults eat junk food and watch junk television children will see this as the ideal.

A focus on testing rather than true understanding of materials is detrimental to thinking critically as it programs a child to memorize, repeat, and forget. In order to foster an ability to think intensively, subjects cannot be taught superficially. Teachers would be better served to delve deeply into less subject matter, rather than race to complete an established and expected curriculum.

I know children who have gotten A+’s on their Native American unit in fourth grade without a clue as to what the Dakota Pipeline Access is all about. We must make our teaching relevant!

As a society, it is important that we place a high value on education and strive for an elevated quality at every grade level. Our modern schools have not changed much since the Industrial Revolution, although our society is changing more and more rapidly. Our children will inhabit a world that we cannot entirely imagine. It is, therefore, of extreme urgency that we nurture creativity and innovative thinking. But creativity without compassion is a hallow achievement.

Experts in the field of human development tell us that empathy is a wired emotion, part of our instinct for societal survival. Yet why is there such an arc of empathy in any one particular classroom? Although certain emotions are part of our DNA, these emotions have a plasticity that is subject to changes that are environmentally dependent – in the same way that a child with a high IQ is not necessarily going to do well in school or beyond. Compassion, like any instinct, such as the ability to walk and talk, must be practiced, refined, and nurtured.

I liken it to a seed with the potential of becoming a tree. The seed will not reach its limbs to the sky, its roots will not dig deep into the earth, branches and bark will not become home for hundreds of creatures, the tree will never bless us with its life giving oxygen, if the rain and the sun and the fertile ground are not present. We must be all of that for our children, not just as parents and professional educators, but as a society. We must embrace all children as our own.

Let’s go back to the teacher explaining to the toddler that she should share her toys. A situation faced millions of times a day in every school throughout the world. How does the teacher communicate to the child? Does she explain that the other child is sad? Does she use a gentle and caring manner that reflects compassion for both sides of the argument? A child cannot develop empathy if the child does not have an understanding of how others feel.

I have seen, in the classroom, how compassion fosters compassion. Yet, it is not enough to teach our children to feel. Just like the toddler unselfishly handing over her toy, we all need to take action on our feelings. By taking personal responsibility we show our children that it is possible to make changes, both small and large.

When we develop a caring attitude about each other we listen, and in this listening we begin to see the world through prisms other than our own. This is the key to true understanding-the kind of understanding that grows as the child grows, developing not only deeper cognitive abilities but the kind of benevolent character traits that will be essential for the survival of our planet.