Teaching Understanding in a Time of Intolerance; Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/11/11

Marybeth Gasman, Chronicle of Higher Education; Teaching Understanding in a Time of Intolerance:

"Despite occasional pushback for teaching in an inclusive way (some students are not used to reading about anything but White America), I am glad that I teach the way I do. I try to make sure that students leave my classes with a deeper understanding of how we are all interconnected regardless of the issues that make us different. I want them to learn to argue without insults and threats. If students don’t learn these skills early on, they do not know how to function in reasonable ways in society.

I fear that the political discourse as of late is a result of adults not learning to argue in reasonable ways and disagree respectfully with each other. These are skills that we need to instill in young people beginning in elementary school through their college experience."