Hi Thomas, you had written, "Therefore, I am open about my stance on Brexit, telling students that I campaigned for Remain in 2016 but later supported the Withdrawal Agreement (i.e. accepting the result and opposing a second vote). Given that this entailed arguing with both sides, perhaps this puts me in a better position to teach!"
I think it is great that you are transparent with your views to your students; most teachers prefer to hide their own views and adopt a tone of impartiality and objectivity, which is inherently false. Also, and this is what I think is a key point: human brains are wired to adopt a tribal position on topics, "my side" vs "your side". By you having a nuanced third side, I think you short circuit that tribal wiring so that people on both sides would be willing to listen to you.
Thanks for that. Familiar guidelines but a necessary set of reminders in this hyper-partisan time. Emphasizing a discipline of fairness in dialogue and discussion will remain important everywhere reasonable people feel a need to communicate, and we forget that at our peril. Keep up the good work!
Hi Thomas, you had written, "Therefore, I am open about my stance on Brexit, telling students that I campaigned for Remain in 2016 but later supported the Withdrawal Agreement (i.e. accepting the result and opposing a second vote). Given that this entailed arguing with both sides, perhaps this puts me in a better position to teach!"
I think it is great that you are transparent with your views to your students; most teachers prefer to hide their own views and adopt a tone of impartiality and objectivity, which is inherently false. Also, and this is what I think is a key point: human brains are wired to adopt a tribal position on topics, "my side" vs "your side". By you having a nuanced third side, I think you short circuit that tribal wiring so that people on both sides would be willing to listen to you.
Nice post.
Thanks really kind of you :-)
Thanks for that. Familiar guidelines but a necessary set of reminders in this hyper-partisan time. Emphasizing a discipline of fairness in dialogue and discussion will remain important everywhere reasonable people feel a need to communicate, and we forget that at our peril. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Tim! Yes, very important that we maintain liberal-democratic standards in universities!
Teaching how to think, not what to think, is teaching. The other is PR.