At my college orientation this year, a speaker told roughly 200 incoming freshmen that we had a choice.
asserted
we → tell → choice
We could approach college transactionally or transformationally.
uncertain
We → approach → college
A transactional education is about checking boxes, earning credits, and collecting a degree.
asserted
education → check → degree
A transformational education requires something deeper: the courage to be present, wrestle with difficult ideas, and emerge changed.
asserted
education → require → ideas
Sitting there, I found myself wondering: Can college really transform us if we are afraid to say what we believe?
asserted
we → sit → what
And as the nation marks its 250th birthday, is this the kind of higher education system America’s founders would want?
asserted
founders → mark → system
Before I stepped into my first college classroom, older students warned me to be careful about expressing unpopular opinions.
asserted
students → step → opinions
I have read stories about students facing social backlash for saying what they think.
asserted
they → read → what
I don’t know every side of those stories, and I don’t assume every campus is hostile to disagreement.
asserted
campus → know → disagreement
But they have made me wonder whether I will feel as comfortable expressing my convictions in college as I did in high school.
asserted
I → make → school
I hope I will.
asserted
I → hope → ?
My high school classrooms included people with very different perspectives.
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classrooms → include → perspectives
Teachers encouraged respectful debate.
asserted
Teachers → encourage → debate
I could express my conservative beliefs, listen to friends who disagreed, and walk away still respecting them.
uncertain
who → express → them
Something important happened in those conversations: My beliefs were tested, and they became stronger.
asserted
they → happen → conversations
Sometimes, I saw weaknesses in my own arguments.
asserted
I → see → arguments
Sometimes, another person made me think differently.
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me → make → ?
That is what education should do.
asserted
education → do → what
Yet, too many students appear to be learning another lesson: Silence is safer.
asserted
Silence → appear → lesson
Researchers at Heterodox Academy have documented the problem of student self-censorship.
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Researchers → document → censorship
Social scientists have described a related phenomenon as the “spiral of silence”: People become reluctant to express opinions they believe are unpopular because they fear social consequences.
asserted
they → describe → consequences
What concerns me isn’t one student staying quiet during one uncomfortable classroom discussion.
asserted
student → concern → discussion
It is what happens when staying quiet becomes a habit.
asserted
staying → happen → ?
Eventually, my generation may stop merely withholding our convictions and start wondering whether they are worth having.
uncertain
they → stop → convictions
The convictions I carry to college are not simply political labels.
asserted
I → carry → college
I believe in individual responsibility, free enterprise, service, faith, and an America that is worth improving rather than abandoning.
asserted
that → believe → responsibility
As a Daniels Scholar, I have also been taught that integrity means standing by your convictions when doing so is difficult, while treating people who disagree with you with respect.
asserted
who → teach → respect
Those two ideas belong together.
asserted
ideas → belong → ?
Conviction without humility becomes arrogance.
asserted
Conviction → become → humility
Humility without conviction can become silence.
asserted
Humility → become → conviction
Our generation needs both.
asserted
generation → need → both
I am entering college at a time when Americans are often told how divided we are.
asserted
we → enter → time
My generation hears plenty about cynicism, polarization, and declining faith in our country, but I choose to believe we can write a different story.
asserted
we → hear → story
Patriotism does not require pretending America has no problems.
asserted
America → require → problems
To me, patriotism means believing America is worth the effort needed to solve them.
asserted
America → mean → them
Education should prepare us for that work.
asserted
Education → prepare → work
College should challenge our assumptions, expose us to arguments we have never considered, and teach us how to disagree without treating one another as enemies.
asserted
we → challenge → enemies
Done well, it is one of education’s greatest gifts.
asserted
it → do → gifts
Character is not formed by avoiding difficult conversations.
asserted
Character → form → conversations
It is formed by entering them with enough courage to speak and enough humility to listen.
asserted
It → form → courage
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
