PP275 - Spring 2024
(adapted from an exercise developed by Shobita Parthasarathy and from Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces by Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens )
Navigating a discussion-based course about politics can be challenging. People have strong opinions about politics. Some may have expertise in particular areas; sometimes, even those same people can feel overwhelmed in other conversations. My goal in this course is to provide you with conceptual tools, critical thinking skills, and models to help you better understand and participate in politics and policymaking. This will be most effective if we can create a “brave space” that allows each of you to participate “fully and truthfully”, take risks, and listen to and be empathetic toward one another.
To facilitate a productive seminar, we will start by thinking critically about the benefits and limitations of political civility and developing best practices for the semester.
What have your most positive classroom experiences been (especially for discussion-based courses)? What made those experiences so positive, and how might that be recreated elsewhere?
Think of a negative classroom experience you have had. What might the instructor, other students, and you have done differently to improve it?
What worries you most about managing the course this term? Do you have ideas on how we might manage them?
What might be the most effective strategies for managing dialogue across difference?
Are there drawbacks to maintaining political civility?
Brian Arao and Kristi Clemens suggest:
“We argue that authentic learning about social justice often requires the very qualities of risk, difficulty, and controversy that are defined as incompatible with safety. These challenges are particularly unavoidable in participant groups composed of target and agent group members. In such settings, target and agent group members take risks by participating fully and truthfully, though these risks differ substantially by group membership and which identities hold the most salience for a given participant at a given time.”
We aim towards civility but also understand that civility has its limitations and can sometimes prevent honesty and true expressions of emotion and responsibility. Civility is also easier to achieve from a position of privilege. Nevertheless, I see that as a potentially productive tension, one which may help us all learn more as the semester progresses.
The professor commits to support student learning, including by:
- Giving students feedback on whether they are participating too much or too little
- Letting students know how their participation could be improved
- Direct the conversation back to the readings that everyone has done to ensure conversations are accessible
- Note when the conversation is going in circles and suggest a new direction
- Adding context when necessary
- Step in to fill awkward silences and keep the conversation moving
- Step in if a debate becomes catty or unproductive
- Step in to open up conversations that have become limited to a few people
- Step in to maintain a respectful conversation
- Not cold calling unless follow up on an earlier valuable question or statement
- Treating students with respect and not being condescending
Students commit to practice active listening and engagement, including by:
- Arriving to class prepared, having done the readings and ready to discuss them
- Trying not to repeat with others have said
- Engaging with ideas, not personal attacks -Trying not to take criticism of ideas personally
- Listening for understanding, not just to respond
- Trying not to make assumptions or ascribe ideas to other students if they were not clearly stated
- Asking clarifying questions when necessary
- Not interrupting others
- Striving for equal time and to not dominate conversations
- Trying to add to the conversation rather than repeating others
- Keep disagreements in class and not discuss what other students said outside of class
- Striving to accurately portray others’ arguments
- Trying to keep an open perspective
- Understanding that others will disagree and that is OK
- Be aware that students have different backgrounds
To maintain successful and respectful relationships between students and the professor:
- Students will respect deadlines
- The professor will attempt to clarify the expectations
- Students and the professor will be honest with each other
- Students and the professor will ask clarifying questions