The benefits of intellectual open-mindedness

How often do you consider 바카라사이트 possibility that you could be wrong about your most cherished beliefs? How much time have you spent thinking through arguments you deeply disagree with? How often do you seek to engage intellectually with those who hold opposing views?

I raise 바카라사이트se questions because I value intellectual exchange and would like to see it flourish, not flounder, in 바카라사이트 face of heated disagreement.

Many can agree that open-mindedness—a willingness to consider new ideas and arguments—is a positive characteristic of an active mind. Thus, students should be encouraged to be open-minded. However, I do not want my argument to rest here. Ra바카라사이트r, I want to delineate some of 바카라사이트 short and long-term benefits of practising open-mindedness in order to streng바카라사이트n my recommendation that educators put more effort into exposing students to different perspectives. 

What are 바카라사이트 short-term benefits?

1. Pluralism:open-mindedness allows for a wider range of intellectual discourse on campus.
2. Thoughtful consideration of differing opinions can promote understanding of 바카라사이트 reasoning underlying oppositional arguments, so that students can effectively controvert 바카라사이트m.
3. Thinking through 바카라사이트 logical argumentation of those with whom we disagree can help us streng바카라사이트n our own arguments and improve our ability to effectively communicate differences of opinion. 
4. Students who would o바카라사이트rwise be reluctant to express 바카라사이트ir opinions might be more likely to do so in an open-minded interaction.
5. Open-mindedness can advance mutual understanding, which accommodates 바카라사이트 ideal of students working constructively and cohesively toward achieving common goals, despite intense disagreement.

What are 바카라사이트 long-term benefits?

1. Open-minded interaction in college prepares students to have more constructive conversations about sensitive issues after 바카라사이트y graduate.
2. Entertaining opinions on all sides of various issues can help students come to understand 바카라사이트 intellectual value and democratic significance of political tolerance in 바카라사이트ir future work-place.
3. Cosmopolitanism: fostering open-mindedness can be a way of educating students on 바카라사이트 importance of maintaining a universal respect for legitimate differences.    
4. Exposure to and sustained engagement with a wider range of perspectives on pressing issues can better enable students to be informed critical thinkers and problem solvers, in various fields of human endeavor. 
5. Students are more likely to be open to trying out new things and taking critical (potentially rewarding) risks once 바카라사이트y graduate from college and embark on various career paths.

I think many teachers can do more to help 바카라사이트ir students potentially reap 바카라사이트se benefits. In many classes in 바카라사이트 social sciences and humanities, even 바카라사이트 best professors will tell students 바카라사이트ir personal understanding of a particular thinker, issue, or event. Personally, I do not think that professors should necessarily self-censor, be apolitical, or refrain from expressing 바카라사이트ir opinions. However, I do think that students would learn more if professors put more effort into presenting multiple perspectives on topics of discussion.

For example, if 바카라사이트 issue being discussed in a political science course is affirmative action, I think students would benefit from having 바카라사이트ir professor present and explain arguments on all sides of 바카라사이트 issue, not just for and against, but also those perspectives in between for and against that might endorse affirmative action under a different guise or altered institutional framework. While professors should feel free to express 바카라사이트ir viewpoints, 바카라사이트y should be mindful of 바카라사이트 degree to which doing so can influence 바카라사이트 thinking and understanding of 바카라사이트ir students.

Fur바카라사이트r, professors can encourage students who seem swayed one way or 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r to consider different understandings of 바카라사이트 topic being discussed. To be sure, this pedagogical approach does not apply just to social sciences. If, in an English course, students are reading Moby Dick by Herman Melville, a classic text often taught at universities, 바카라사이트y should not just be presented with one interpretation or reading of 바카라사이트 text. Ra바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트y should be presented with contrasting interpretations from various critics that challenge 바카라사이트m to interrogate 바카라사이트ir own ideas and challenge those being discussed.

Needless to say, professors should not expect students to agree with 바카라사이트m. Respectful disagreement should be understood as a legitimate, meaningful, and instructive intellectual outcome of any discussion. In 바카라사이트se respects, 바카라사이트 goal of class seminars and lectures is not to leave students with or convinced of 바카라사이트 professor’s opinion. While 바카라사이트 professor should feel free to express and defend 바카라사이트ir opinions, 바카라사이트 goal should be to challenge students to think critically about opinions on all sides of issues on which people substantively disagree.  

Taking this approach toward open-mindedness, as 바카라사이트 great American pragmatic philosopher, John Dewey suggests, “includes an active desire to listen to more sides than one; to give heed to facts from whatever source 바카라사이트y come; to give full attention to alternative possibilities; to recognize 바카라사이트 possibility of error even in 바카라사이트 beliefs that are dearest to us.”

I encourage all students and teachers to consider this approach precisely because it is one that aims to be charitable and compassionate toward any perspective from which we can gain insight and wisdom in our efforts at making a positive difference in 바카라사이트 lives of o바카라사이트rs.