While I’ve been editing this essay to make it meaningful for parents of high schoolers and approachable for students on the verge of applying to college, the Editorial Board at the New York Times beat me to the punch. That’s fine. As a fledgling blog-writer with racing thoughts and ideas I often second-guess myself; today I feel validated.
Last week, the New York Times published an essay written by a senior at the University of Virginia. Emma Camp offered a critical reflection of her time in the lecture hall, recounting experiences when she self-censored her perspectives from class discussions for fear of ostracism from her classmates. She writes, “I went to college to learn from my professors and peers. I welcomed an environment that champions intellectual diversity and rigorous disagreement. Instead, my college experience has been defined by strict ideological conformity. Students of all political persuasions hold back — in class discussions, in friendly conversations, on social media — from saying what we really think.”
Lurking in the shallows under Emma’s words is an issue she did not specifically address by name. But I will, because I believe we must critically evaluate society’s pervasive use of cancel culture as a replacement for respectful civil discourse. I think it is imperative for high school students to examine cancel culture in light of college’s promise to challenge norms, open minds, and foster learning. Chilling speech to the point of silence, where classrooms are simply filled with lectures that don’t lead to fervent, respectful debates, or at the very least a sharing of opinions, is anathema to the very point of going to college. Educators attempt to instill in their students the values of respect and tolerance from Kindergarten through senior year of high school. Where then has this behavior of cancelling come from? It is akin to a toddler’s tantrum, utter stubbornness towards listening to an alternative perspective, solution, or idea. Universities must not tolerate it any longer.
In a time when being “followed” and “liked” translates into self-worth, enduring social backlash from offering opinions in the classroom doesn’t seem worth it for college students. A hypocrisy has come to exist among the student bodies at institutions across the country. College students on both sides of the political spectrum use freedom of speech as justification for their expression in certain environments, like peaceful protests or group meetings for organizations to which they belong. These same students, however, shame others with opposing views to the point where classroom dialogue is severely chilled and education is compromised. If college is no longer the place for students to grab their backpacks and approach one another for further discussion on the way to their next class or dining hall, where is it?
Until institutions put real solutions to this problem into action, what can students who have looked forward to exchanging ideas, debating with peers, and broadening their horizons do to better ensure they will enroll at a school with an accepting student body, with professors that welcome ideological challenge?
I have several pieces of helpful advice.
Interview Your Campus Tour Guides: Campus tours are often led by student ambassadors. They will introduce themselves, share their field of study, and even point out the dorm they lived in freshman year. These students are an approachable, direct source of information about classroom culture at the school. Don’t sleep on this opportunity to hear firsthand whether this aspect of academics is well-tolerated at the school.
Email Professors: Course catalogs are readily available online, even to prospective students. Along with the class description is the professor who will be teaching the section. If their email is not outright listed in the catalogue, searching their name on the university’s website will easily bring you to their bio and contact information. Use it. Send them a quick note explaining you are interested in perhaps taking their course and curious about the environment of dialogue in the classroom. The professor may not respond, but it’s worth the 10 minutes of effort for a 10 week course.
On top of that, Google professors of courses you find interesting. See the topics of their academic papers and familiarize yourself with the views they espouse to gauge your comfort level with their politics.
Twitter: Searching for “cancel culture [name of institution]” returns an interesting array of perspectives and links to current news stories. Anyone interested in this subject matter could get lost for hours reading about experiences and occurrences happening daily across U.S. universities. Think of it less as social media and more as a new age research tool for digging deeper into the college search.
In closing, I want to encourage parents and students to give serious consideration to these issues. College should provide an environment conducive to the unfettered sharing of ideas. The classroom should be a place of intellectual stimulation and growth, a neutral territory to address contentious issues, debate solutions, and find common ground. Perpetuating all or nothing attitudes towards others stifles compromise and humility. I implore you to prioritize the ability to think and speak freely in college classrooms, to be fearless in stating a wrong answer or an ill-founded idea, so that you can more meaningfully learn about yourself and from others.
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