A Case for the Unbalanced

There is a debate going on in my graduate school discussion board. I'm a strong proponent of debate, so this is thrilling to me. What leaves me much less than enthusiastic is the nature of the debate: a call for 'striking a balance' between the idea of 'value inculcation' and the 'marketplace of ideas'. I posted previously on this topic, only to find that I may have not stated my position as clearly I had previously thought. So to be perfectly clear: as unpopular as it may be, I do not subsribe to balance in this instance. I identify with one side of this debate much more strongly than the other. In his lecture, Dr. Michael Hopson outlines the idea of ‘value inculcation’: “To paraphrase Justice Black, students attend school to learn, not to teach. It is not the time or place for them to exercise their expression rights and to comment on issues of public concern or interest.” (personal communication, November 1, 2010) I find the idea that school is not the time or place for commentary on public concerns to be shockingly short-sighted. If our goal is to educate students in higher-order and critical thinking skills, how can we exclude exchange of ideas that might possibly even be uncomfortable for students? One of my colleagues mentions the idea of “bringing accountability to their [students’] ‘free’ speech.” (personal communication, November 3, 2010) This is the litmus test that elevates exchange of ideas, not just in a classroom, but in society.

Throughout the posts this week there is much talk of imparting students with ‘our values’. While I am not at all opposed to modeling to my students how I live my life through the lens of my own ethical compass, I shy from the idea that somehow I have a monopoly on appropriate “values”. Another colleague uses an expression in her post, “socially appropriate behavior”, which I believe to be an excellent guiding principle for educators. While there are societal norms that we all accept, norms that enable civil discourse, societal values can be a much murkier area, colored by political affiliation, embedded theology, and cultural mores. We can recognize that there are students who come into the schoolhouse doors with a woeful lack of experience in societal norms without making an assumption that, because their value systems do not reflect our own, they do not exist at all.