{"id":45513,"date":"2018-10-03T13:25:52","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T20:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=45513"},"modified":"2018-10-03T13:25:52","modified_gmt":"2018-10-03T20:25:52","slug":"why-we-should-give-prejudiced-students-a-voice-in-the-classroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-we-should-give-prejudiced-students-a-voice-in-the-classroom\/","title":{"rendered":"Why we should give prejudiced students a voice in the classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nIn the space of a few years, Britain\u2019s political landscape has changed. Now, generally, young people are\u00a0proportionately more likely<\/a>\u00a0to have socially liberal and socialist views, and want to remain part of the EU. Meanwhile, older demographics proportionately\u00a0voted for Brexit<\/a>, and were said to be\u00a0largely responsible for voting<\/a>\u00a0the Conservatives into office in 2017.<\/p>\n

This polarisation was especially prevalent\u00a0in university towns<\/a>. But general trends do not pick up on the more complex and messy reality of perspectives and sympathies. One study of young people\u2019s views on Brexit and the EU, for example, recently found they are actually less tolerant of immigration\u00a0than is widely thought<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Up\u00a0until 2016<\/a>, students seemed remarkably unpolitical as a majority. Many had no overt political stances or felt any affiliation with any formal political perspective. The\u00a0last couple of years<\/a>, however, have seen a distinct change in their knowledge and engagement with current issues and debates. A change that is both exciting for me as a teacher, but also concerning.<\/p>\n

Protectionist views<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Recently, student support\u00a0for the Labour party<\/a>\u00a0has risen,\u00a0thanks largely to<\/a>\u00a0grass roots organisation Momentum which has been credited with changing Labour\u2019s narrative into a\u00a0more relevant<\/a>\u00a0discussion of issues that are of direct concern to young people today.<\/p>\n

Emerging in parallel to this, however, have been very protectionist views, spurred on of course by UKIP and Nigel Farage. The party and its former leader have been perceived by many as saying things \u201cas they are\u201d, again offering a refreshingly blunt change from the usual party-political rhetoric. This is an ideological position that is gaining support right across Europe and beyond, giving people the ability to legitimise racist attitudes.
\n

\"\"

Healthy discussion is vital in universities. ESB Professional\/Shutterstock<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

These more protectionist views \u2013 many of which have been close to, or quite in line with, what we\u00a0might call fascism<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 are also becoming more overt in schools\u00a0and universities<\/a>\u00a0too. It seems an extreme word to use in relation to a small minority of students\u2019 views, but the values and perceptions that I have personally heard confidently argued at times, have been very worryingly in line with this ideology.<\/p>\n

I had previously assumed (wrongly perhaps) that everyone in a class would be against fascism, having enough knowledge about World War Two and the Holocaust\u00a0to see the dangers<\/a>\u00a0of the lies propagated by such ideas of supremacy.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until this year that I realised that I could no longer hold such an assumption, and by doing so I may well be alienating the students who hold such views from discussions. This could in itself serve to further entrench their views rather than aid the development of a critical, evidenced-based perspective of their own.<\/p>\n

Challenging the challengers<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Healthy debate, generated by a range of perspectives is very welcome in classrooms and lecture halls, and necessary for a healthy democracy. The concerning issue that is arising in society at large, and becoming increasingly prevalent in universities, is the polarisation of views.<\/p>\n

This is not simply about students developing racist, fascist or right-wing views however. The emergence of these views reveals how globalisation has left many behind especially those who feel disempowered, disconnected and threatened by the changes that have and are taking place around them. It is\u00a0a backlash to much of the progress<\/a>\u00a0many feel has been made in recent years, in terms of gender and racial equality.<\/p>\n

The problem we have is that young people now obtain their perspectives from\u00a0a very narrow range<\/a>\u00a0of social media sources. And, because of\u00a0social media algorithms<\/a>, their political views can be formed and reinforced by a narrow range of perspectives. These views then become unchallenged and recognised as legitimate. Leaders are hero worshipped, and understanding of different perspectives, experiences and people can diminish while evidence-based, independent, critical analysis (a skill lacking in society at the best of times) is lost, polarising perspectives and narrowing debate.<\/p>\n

Academics and universities need \u2013 as journalist\u00a0John Morgan points out<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 to work out how to approach the problem carefully \u201clest they portray themselves as part of the global elite resented by populist supporters\u201d. Students need to feel able to express and explore their ideas. But we as teachers should be helping them to challenge their own preconceptions through evidence-based research, and develop the skills to critically analyse information for themselves.<\/p>\n

The fear of non-conformity, of gender and racial equality and of diversity needs to be addressed so that cultures and global challenges become issues that are looked at from a position of understanding and contextuality, not from a reactive and defensive position. We can\u2019t ignore any student who does not agree with a more liberal standpoint. Instead, we need to challenge them in a way that doesn\u2019t further create defensive entrenchment of views, alienating those who perhaps already feel alienated.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Corinna Patterson is a Lecturer in Sociology at Bangor University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the space of a few years, Britain\u2019s political landscape has changed. Now, generally, young people are\u00a0proportionately more likely\u00a0to have socially liberal and socialist views, and want to remain part of the EU. Meanwhile, older demographics proportionately\u00a0voted for Brexit, and were said to be\u00a0largely responsible for voting\u00a0the Conservatives into office in 2017. This polarisation was […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":45514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[224437],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-45513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-higher-education","tag-prejudiced-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy we should give prejudiced students a voice in the classroom - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/why-we-should-give-prejudiced-students-a-voice-in-the-classroom\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why we should give prejudiced students a voice in the classroom - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the space of a few years, Britain\u2019s political landscape has changed. 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