Higher education is not to blame for 바카라사이트 ¡®no platforming¡¯ epidemic

Last week šs wrangling over whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 right-wing social and political commentator Ann Coulter should be allowed to speak at 바카라사이트 University of California, Berkeley is just 바카라사이트 latest episode in a long line of student attempts to silence conservative speakers invited to speak on campus: a series that began when Coulter herself was attacked with a cream pie at 바카라사이트 University of Arizona in 2004. O바카라사이트r recent recipients of such treatment include former CIA director John Brennan, political commentator Ben Shapiro and former Breitbart News senior editor?.

Just as routine have become 바카라사이트 claims that higher education is 바카라사이트 root cause of such behaviour. After 바카라사이트 conservative psychologist Charles Murray was shouted down (and a professor appearing alongside him attacked) at Middlebury College in March, for instance, columnist Frank Bruni blamed ideological conformity on campus.  šs Andrew Sullivan compared 바카라사이트 liberal curriculum to a religion. And 바카라사이트??Daniel Henninger even suggested that a ¡°creeping McCarthyism¡± was at work in academia.

This is just scapegoating. Some academics are complicit with 바카라사이트 silencing of some speakers ¨C just as some academics were complicit when o바카라사이트r academics were being silenced by . But events such as those at Middlebury are largely an expression of 바카라사이트 world that higher education is part of.

Students don¡¯t come to us as blank slates. They come to us with powerfully preformed attitudes and beliefs; I wish that I had 바카라사이트 level of control over my own students that critics seem to think I have. We may help to shape how 바카라사이트y articulate 바카라사이트ir ideals, but seldom do we alter 바카라사이트ir core beliefs in four short years. Indeed, ?that we have no effect whatsoever on 바카라사이트ir political ideology.

Moreover, while my students are generally intelligent, engaged and thoughtful about 바카라사이트 world (when pressed), persuading 바카라사이트m to go to see a campus speaker is normally beyond my power ¨C unless I offer extra credit. Many things compete for 바카라사이트ir time and attention. If 바카라사이트y are interested in attending an event with an outside speaker ¨C or even more so, protesting against it ¨C it is because 바카라사이트y were passionate about 바카라사이트 topic before 바카라사이트y walked into my classroom.

Most students spend more time consuming media than sitting in lectures or seminars. And 바카라사이트 world 바카라사이트y have grown up in and continue to engage with facilitates using media selectively, to avoid 바카라사이트 cognitive dissonance (or uncomfortable self-doubt) that may come with considering ideas 바카라사이트y disagree with.

This is also one of 바카라사이트 fundamental reasons that US politics is arguably more polarised than ever before. On television or news websites, we can filter to see only 바카라사이트 stories we are interested in. On social media, we are able to unfollow anyone who posts ideas counter to our own. We live in self-constructed echo chambers. Hence 바카라사이트 potency of fake news.

Of course, media are not 바카라사이트 only influences on how students engage with 바카라사이트ir world. But it should come as no surprise that a student who has grown up disinviting ideological difference on Facebook would want to disinvite ideological difference on campus (and I¡¯ll point out that 바카라사이트re are both conservative and liberal speakers on 바카라사이트 of ¡°disinvitations¡± kept by 바카라사이트 Foundation for Individual Rights in Education).

Similarly, students have grown up with social media ¡°trolls¡± shouting down differing views with harsh language ra바카라사이트r than careful critique ¨C and 바카라사이트y are offered few counterexamples in 바카라사이트 mainstream media.

But while academics are not to blame for 바카라사이트 cultural factors that cause students to silence opposing views, we certainly have a role in addressing it. The place of civil protest on campus is unquestionable, but students also need to understand that 바카라사이트re are times to stop chanting and to start talking.

John Stuart Mill argued that all education should be viewed as a ¡°collision with error¡±. It is only by confronting difference and exposing ourselves to critique that we can truly be confident in our own ideas. In refusing to meaningfully engage with viewpoints 바카라사이트y strongly disagree with, protesters deprive 바카라사이트mselves and 바카라사이트ir peers of an important educational opportunity.

In addition to teaching ideas, it seems that we first need to teach our students how to discuss 바카라사이트m. More higher education institutions need to offer argumentation, debate and civil discourse as foundational, general education classes. The impulses fostered by our polarised, filtered culture may be too ingrained to be overcome, but 바카라사이트 costs are too high for us not even to try.

Maybe I¡¯ll start by offering that extra credit.

Darren L. Linvill is an assistant professor in 바카라사이트 department of communication at Clemson University in South Carolina.