By Abigail Barkley ’28 (DCI Fellow)
In recent years there has been a rise in younger US citizens being politically active. Much of this rise is tied to social media and the accessibility of political information. While this is a positive trend, the discourse over social media leads to misinformation, a rise in polarization of views, and has inspired political violence and hate speech. These issues are what we try to tackle in the Deliberative Citizenship Initiative (DCI) through our Deliberative Forums and D Teams. While this is something that Davidson students and Davidson community residents can benefit from, there is not much practice in teaching deliberation skills to the wider population of young individuals. Teaching this in schools would provide students with the skill set to contribute to discourse in a productive way as they approach voting age and enter into the public sphere.
Because political research on individuals who cannot vote is limited, it is not clear how individuals in late Gen-Z and Gen-Alpha are affected by politics and social media. Most are present on social media sites; “Up to 95% of youth ages 13–17 report using a social media platform, with more than a third saying they use social media ‘almost constantly.’ (Office of the Surgeon General 2023) Because of this constant exposure to unregulated and informal discourse, it is becoming evident that there should be an example of how to participate in contentious conversations in a civil and productive manner.
Schools are an ideal place to teach kids conversational skills as they apply to controversial topics. Some schools provide opportunities for debate teams through extracurricular clubs or advanced courses. However, this is not available to the average student. Even when opportunities for debate are available, debate does not nurture the kind of conversation that deliberation provides. Debate is based in arguing a point with the intention of proving yourself to be correct. Deliberation allows for an environment that encourages participants to talk in a structured yet unscripted and natural manner that focuses on building understanding between those involved.
Instruction in deliberative methods in schools would provide students with an example of productive discourse. Because many have never been exposed to deliberative conversations, they need explicit instruction and modeling in order to convey their opinions as well as listen and disagree respectfully. Teaching students some seeds of deliberation such as, “Can you help me understand…?” to convey open-mindedness or “Building on what you just said…” to show attentiveness. Through explicit instruction across content disciplines, students could come to understand the key Deliberative Dispositions. Lessons on Deliberation would require students to: slow down their thinking, sit with ambiguity, value listening as much as speaking, hold competing truths at the same time, and reconsider positions in light of new evidence or stories. This isn’t something that should be done with the motivation that students will become political influencers or spend huge amounts of time arguing their points; it is a hope that they will carry deliberative values into their everyday conversations; with family, classmates, coworkers, or even strangers.
