Are we too scared to speak up?
New research about how many New Zealand university students aren’t comfortable talking about politics, gender, sexual orientation or religion in the classroom is unsettling.
The research found that, of the 791 students surveyed, 20-40% of them ‘‘expressed reluctance to ‘speak up and give their views’ in the classroom, and overall, 65.4% were reluctant to speak on at least one of the topics surveyed’’.
Where are we most able to experiment with our emerging ideas if it is not in an academic setting, a melting pot of supposed diverse views? Surely tertiary education is the context where exploring and testing one’s opinions should most safely occur.
This challenge to what we think should be happening in higher education is not new. Social science research has warned us for decades about our need to protect ourselves from negative feedback from members of the groups we belong to.
In an evolutionary sense, voicing an unpopular opinion could lead to social isolation, where bad things like starvation, loneliness, or attacks by a feral beast could happen. We’re wired to be part of a group that keeps us alive in uncertain conditions and this drive is more important to us than being right.
Therefore, we are more likely to express mistruths if they are associated with the majority opinion than we are likely to state truisms that are not well understood or agreed upon. People who feel public support tend to express their views more loudly and more frequently, forcing minority viewpoints into a ‘‘spiral of silence’’.
But in modern-day life, it’s easy to find an echo chamber to espouse views that are similar to your own, however unpopular they may be. Social media networks can be tunnels of herdthink into which the same, and increasingly more extreme, ideas flourish.
Many of us rarely need to step outside our information bubbles when sharing our ideas, so we don’t practise expressing and defending our views among those who are likely to disagree.
We’ve heard a lot about the current divisiveness in the US and the UK, the bellwethers of what could be coming next for us. Part of this polarisation involves a reluctance to engage with the other side; their values are too foreign, their passions misled, their heroes too flawed.
Our reticence to discuss our views may also be due to many of us not being motivated to have a debate. We work hard, have responsibilities and people to care for, and any energy or time that may be left over is spent on restoring ourselves, not widening our thinking on topical issues.
Plus, some people just haven’t ever figured out their views on a range of topics and therefore aren’t willing or able to discuss it with others. In another New Zealand study of university students, two-thirds of students considered themselves to be politically indifferent or disengaged.
But that doesn’t mean they weren’t engaged in subjects outside of politics. If a person is more interested in fixing cars or water polo than gender politics or religion, they will be less comfortable talking about sensitive issues in a group because they are not as informed and prepared to discuss those topics.
However many reasons there may be to justify what seems to be an increasing reluctance to share political, gender, religious and sexual orientation views with others, it remains a vital aspect of life in a free democracy and in an intellectuallylively, diverse society.
Alternative viewpoints may be uncomfortable to hear or read, but serve so many purposes. They help us clarify or affirm our own points of view, build empathy with others, grow our ability to understand our complex world, sprout new connections and even freshen up our ways of thinking. When able to articulate your own perspectives with clarity and care, it raises opportunities to change minds and behaviours of other people too.
Despite it being uncomfortable at times, we need to keep talking about the topics that shape our world. This doesn’t mean saying whatever you want, when you want – sharing our personal views requires being mindful of the need to protect marginalised groups from harm and respecting that some groups hold less societal power than you.
Instead, it means raising discussions about, then listening to others’ feedback on, topics that are important to us and relevant to modern life.
Even on issues of politics, gender, religion, and sexual orientation, we need to keep discussing the differences that can potentially deepen in an increasingly divided world.
. . . in modernday life, it’s easy to find an echo chamber to espouse views that are similar to your own . . .