Greetings, Dragon Nation! For this final edition of the Director’s Desk for the 21-22 school year, I want to talk a little bit about civil discourse. Events over the past several years have prompted polarization and a decline in our ability to respectfully express our beliefs and actively listen to another’s beliefs that are in opposition to ours. At a school such as ours, we should strive to be able to create an environment where the open discussion of challenging topics isn’t seen as an impossible task.

I have found that, as individuals, we have about 85% of shared values. We want to feel safe, we want to be able to be who we are, we want to love and be loved, we want to have opportunities to grow and thrive, we want to have a relationship with someone who cares about us, we want access to food, water, a place to live, and a life after high school that is meaningful and valued. It can all be found in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in some form. However, while we have shared values, we often have very different ideas about how to achieve the realization of our values. So how does one have a conversation with someone of opposing views that doesn’t descend into an argument?

Let me start by saying that this conundrum is nothing new, but it is a lot more difficult for all of us today. One only needs to look back into history to see that conflict and discord have always existed, but with today’s 24/7 access to news, some of it biased or false, and headlines designed to sound as urgent as possible, division is becoming more deeply rooted and it’s growing harder to have civil discourse, especially on controversial topics. Even the simple act of trying to understand a different point of view is seen as heresy by many.

Much like the One Small Step program that Ms. DeGroat has spearheaded here at MLWGS, there are some basic principles that go with the concept of civil discourse. It needs to be honest, fact-based, and respectful in both tone and body language. It should be deliberative and not combative, as the goal is to understand each other by listening and being in the moment. Civil discourse isn’t a debate where there is a winner or a loser (www.civicnebraska.org). I am not naïve enough to think that this is easy or perhaps even desirable for some; however, I am certain that without it we are all going to be in serious trouble.

Fortunately for us, MLWGS offers many ways to work on these skills: Mr. Ulmschneider’s Constitutional Convention, Ms. Cross’s Partition of India, and Dr. Ericson’s Yalta Conference. This type of experiential learning on differing viewpoints is also supported by academic teams such as Model UN, Debate/Forensics, and Model Congress. Additionally, the SAC facilitated Dialogue Day in February, Socratic seminars in English classes prepare students for discourse using open-ended questions and rules of etiquette, and The Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities has worked with students for freshman booster camp and freshman orientation.

It is important to realize that the goal of civil discourse and civic engagement isn’t to change someone’s mind into thinking about things the same way that you do. It is to develop an understanding of their perspective. If one is able to achieve this, then one can begin the process of developing solutions to problems in a way that may actually achieve some success. It is a challenge worth accepting.