Teaching In Politically Charged Times

The Purpose of Argument by Jon Collier

According to this study from the Pew Research Center, the political divide on issues like race and immigration is growing ever wider. The associate director for research at the Pew Research Center, Jocelyn Kiley, reports that “Partisan divides across political values … [are] wider than at any point in the past.”

That divide makes it more and more challenging to teach Immigration Law.

Which is why I was fascinated to come across this article in the NYT about teaching. One professor in Texas assigns the book 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life in an effort “to teach students ‘to develop compassion and empathy’ for opposing, even distasteful stances.” She also has students start each class with meditation.

Some schools, the NYT reports, are investing in teaching training – giving professors tools for “what to do when talk gets heated.” There is growing desire for training in “how to model productive disagreement.”

I’d love to hear how you’re handling disagreement in the classroom. What, if anything, are you doing to get ahead of class conflict? If your institution is tackling this issue, how are they? This would make for a great immprof conference discussion!

-KitJ