Building Bridges: Fostering Community Amid Polarization Blog Post Series – Part 5
Part 5: Shape the Future
Written by Dr. Margaret Robbins, Jared Colley, Alexandra Blumencranz, and Ann Marsh Rutledge
This blog post series addresses how schools can foster essential dialogues about civics and participatory democracy while protecting their communities from the harmful effects of polarization. It provides practical strategies for building environments where meaningful discourse can thrive and where students, teachers, and stakeholders feel safe to explore, learn, and apply their knowledge for positive impact.
How can schools cultivate a sense of belonging to engage students in authentic dialogue on topics essential to their identity and civic development? The approach will vary based on each school’s unique mission, vision, values, context, and setting. However, research indicates several effective strategies for initiating this process in any educational organization. The previous article laid out foundational steps that included making a commitment, establishing a framework to set the container, and anticipating future challenges and opportunities. The next set of steps builds upon those, ensuring that all school stakeholders are empowered to shape futures where diverse voices are heard, individuals feel valued, and the collective good is prioritized.
STEP FOUR – Envision Multiple Futures
In a landscape where multiple futures appear equally plausible and uncertainties abound, constructing scenarios for various possible outcomes allows us to broaden our perspective. This approach enables us to act more agilely and respond regeneratively to the unpredictable challenges ahead. A crucial first step in this process is to scan for signals, trends, and future forces, assessing both their potential impact and the level of uncertainty they present. This analysis helps us identify what Thomas Chermack refers to as “critical uncertainties” (2011).
Once a diverse team has pinpointed several relevant critical uncertainties, the next step is to select two of these uncertainties as the foundation for developing multiple plausible scenarios. Consider taking the two most important or relevant critical uncertainties and framing them as either/or statements. One either/or proposition can serve as an X-axis on a four quadrant chart, and the other either/or uncertainty can serve as the Y-axis. Taken together, a team of scenario planners can work with four distinct scenarios to use for purposes of testing the organization’s strategy and strengthening its position in the face of complexity and uncertainty.
How does your school’s strategic position, policies of protection, and practices and programs withstand the challenges posed by each of these plausible futures? Scenarios serve as a vital tool for stress-testing your current strategic position by evaluating how well your organizational protections, practices, and programming hold up against potential realities, such as increased censorship, the erosion of truth, civil unrest, or collaborative resilience.
By confronting plausible futures before they happen, our regenerative capacity as individuals and organizations is strengthened, ultimately fortifying the integrity of our values, practices, and communities in an unpredictable landscape.
STEP FIVE – Discover unforeseen obstacles and opportunities through dialogue
Building on the insights from Step Four, it is essential for educators and school administrators to continually explore how to facilitate discussions about political and civil divisions as well as other challenging topics in classrooms, especially in an era of increasing polarization. In “Tips for Teaching the Election,” Middle Ground School Solutions provides practical strategies to equip teachers for success, with one key recommendation emphasizing the value of dialogue over debate. The authors urge community members, teachers, and students to “listen to learn rather than to refute; avoid interruptions, and ask follow-up questions” (2024). Instead of engaging in debates aimed at persuasion, imagine if we prioritized dialogue to foster understanding—asking ourselves, “How can I better understand your perspective?” This shift not only enriches the conversation but also opens pathways to unforeseen insights and collaboration.
As Hageman-Mays notes, civil discourse doesn’t have to take the form of a debate. However, simulating debates where students argue for opposing viewpoints can cultivate empathy for dissenting opinions. Prioritizing dialogue does not mean avoiding the academic skills of argument and debate; rather, it enhances our cultures of expressive freedom, making them more regenerative and impactful (2019).
STEP SIX – Shape the future your community desires
To shape the future our community desires and deserves, we must prioritize teaching civil discourse, digital literacy, and responsible citizenship in our schools. As harmful rhetoric, misinformation, and disinformation increasingly permeate online spaces—exacerbated by the anonymity of the digital world and the rise of artificial intelligence—it’s crucial for students to learn how to navigate these challenges effectively. For some, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted this issue, as isolation often emboldened individuals to express hurtful sentiments online that they might not voice in person. To counter this trend, we need to engage students in meaningful discussions about the ethical use of digital media, the importance of critically evaluating information sources, and developing AI literacy that prioritizes human values. By equipping our students with these skills, we empower them to foster a safer, more respectful online environment, ultimately shaping a future where thoughtful discourse and mutual understanding thrive in our communities.
Schools have the power to model and inspire a culture of positive change. By encouraging students to reshape the narrative and take ownership of local issues, schools can foster environments where positive impact is both taught and lived. When students engage in collaborative solutions and community-based efforts, they not only grow academically but also develop essential qualities like leadership, empathy, creativity, and social responsibility. In this way, schools become beacons of regeneration and equity, empowering students to lead meaningful change both locally and globally, and cultivating preferable futures that align with the values of justice, belonging, civility, and collective well-being. Let’s teach the next generation, using local opportunities, how to change the tide of “global flows” so that we produce better ideas, information, and people for the near and far futures ahead of us.
Sources:
Chermack, Thomas J. (2011). Scenario Planning in Organizations: How to Create, Use, and Assess Scenarios. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, pgs. 127-129.
Hageman-Mays, Kendall (2019). Perspective | Civil Discourse in the Classroom: Creating Space for Important Conversations. EducationNC. Retrieved August 15, 2024 from https://www.ednc.org/
perspective-civil-discourse-in-the-classroom-creating-space-for-important-conversations/.
Middle Ground School Solutions (2024). “Tips for Teaching the 2024 Election.” Retrieved on August 20, 2024 from https://www.middlegroundschools.com/blog/tips-for-teaching-the-2024-presidential-Election-part-two-in-the-classroom.
