The Best Discussions
by Chris Slaten, High School American Literature and Creative Writing Teacher
Meaningful discussion is hard work. In my junior American Literature class I coach students through the difficult task of deepening their understanding of complex texts through the tools of inquiry and collaboration. They engage in exercises aimed to cultivate habits of listening, questioning, affirming, expanding, seeking evidence, correcting, challenging, and encouraging. The best discussions develop humility, empathy, curiosity, and confidence, and in entering into them we awake to the truth of our own limited perspectives and the reality that the pursuit of truth is both individual and communal.
Yet many days I witness discussions become so agonizingly awkward that it would be easier for students to quietly drift back into silence and the safety of their own opinions. What can we say when a story doesn’t make sense, our neighbor’s view sounds like nonsense compared to the clarity of our own take, or our thoughts run too deeply for words? Is true discussion worth the trouble? In a culture characterized by a vocabulary of isolation and division with terms such as “unfriending,” “silos,” and “echo chambers,” I believe training in meaningful, face-to-face conversation is increasingly necessary.
As our school endeavors to prepare students to represent Christ and seek his kingdom, this means, in part, equipping them to enter much larger, more complex conversations than the ones they have here with often like-minded peers. Mr. Jipping’s engagement with hermeneutics and human origins, Mrs. Hughes’ instruction on logical fallacies, Mr. LaRose’s analysis of art, and Mr. Monahan’s training in apologetics are just a few ways we aim to prepare students to enter into larger discussions with tools of truth and grace. Our monthly faculty forums provide a model for students to see a diverse body of believers wrestling with opposing ideas in a civil and beneficial way, and our International Student Program and financial aid system are both built on the assumption that our students will gain a fuller picture of Christ’s kingdom in a school body that experiences diverse perspectives and gifts.
In genuine conversation we assume we may not be able to see eye-to-eye, but we can try to see more fully through the eyes of others. My hope is that in reflecting on their time at CCS, my students will see how doing this well may often be difficult, but it is an essential way of truly loving our neighbor and living in the unity of the body Christ.
This piece, written by Chris Slaten, was originally published as a printed profile by the CCS Office of Advancement in the spring of 2017.