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Teach students how to argue
Young Americans should learn to argue without sneering, bullying or "straw-manning."

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 92 min read


Rebels turn right: Questioning leftist ideas is 'dangerous, alluring'
Rebelling against left-wing conformity, college students are moving to conservative spaces where debate and disagreement is welcome.

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 26, 20252 min read


Did college radicalize Tyler Robinson?
Something happened to Tyler Robinson, but it's probably not a semester of engineering classes.

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 13, 20251 min read


When speech is violence and violence is resistance ...
An increasing number of college students -- on the left and right -- think violence is justified to silence offensive ideas.

Joanne Jacobs
Sep 11, 20252 min read


Civility and conformity
Professors teach conformity to progressive orthodoxy.

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 18, 20252 min read


To get into elite colleges, agree to disagree (but avoid politics)
Diversity is out for college applicants. Civility is in.

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 18, 20252 min read


Yale liberals: We envy conservatives because they're learning to think and we're not
Yale liberals say they envy conservative classmates who are learning how to understand other points of view and argue for their ideas.

Joanne Jacobs
Nov 23, 20242 min read


Conservative students learn to argue in college -- liberals stay in their bubble
Conservative students sharpen their ideas and listen to alternative perspectives -- they learn -- on very liberal college campuses,...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 11, 20243 min read


New university creates space for debate, but it's not 'safe'
The new University of Austin -- the first class of 100 undergrads starts in fall -- wants to be a "pluralistic community" for discussion,...

Joanne Jacobs
May 8, 20242 min read


Virtue signaling turns nasty at Stanford, silly at Vanderbilt
"Aggression and abuse" are now "an accepted part of campus activism," writes Theo Baker, a Stanford sophomore, in The Atlantic. When...

Joanne Jacobs
Mar 28, 20242 min read


Where to find curious, confident, inquisitive students
Her expectations were low she visited Utah Valley University, a large, open-enrollment state university, admits Martha C. Nussbaum, a...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 20, 20242 min read


Sympathy for the devil: What's the bad guy's point of view?
Novelist Rachel Kadish tells her creative-writing students to write a first-person monologue by a character with "abhorrent" views that...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 20, 20242 min read


College is now a 'what to think' place, not 'how to think' for yourself
"Professors here teach how to think, not "what to think," college tour guides claim. Don't believe them, writes Caitlin Flanagan in The...

Joanne Jacobs
Feb 4, 20242 min read


Talking 'bout 'oracy'
Teaching students to speak well would "break the class ceiling," said Sir Keir Starmer, the British Labour leader and would-be prime...

Joanne Jacobs
Jul 9, 20233 min read


High school debate's decline: No arguing allowed
High school debate competitions no longer value debate, writes James Fishback, a debater turned debate coach, on The Free Press. Until...

Joanne Jacobs
May 27, 20232 min read


Fuzzy civics: Teachers don't value knowledge
I learned about separation of powers, checks and balances and the three separate and equal branches of government -- executive,...

Joanne Jacobs
Oct 19, 20222 min read
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