What's Missing From College Campuses: Debate
Debate on this blog makes me a sharper thinker and writer and sometimes changes my mind on an issue. (Of course, that's because I work really hard to "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your golden ego" -- understanding our tendency toward confirmation bias: looking for information that confirms what we already and shoving away disconfirming information.)

This helps me be more functional in the real world -- and actually listen to what people with opposing views are saying, which is necessary when you're engaging in debate, as opposed to just shouting the other side down, as is what's largely going on on campus these days.

Naomi Schaefer Riley writes at Acculturated:

A speech by Milo Yiannopoulos had to be cancelled Wednesday night in Berkeley, California, because, according to a UC Berkeley spokesman, "This university was essentially invaded by more than 100 individuals clad in ninja-like uniforms who were armed and engaged in paramilitary tactics," Mr. Dan Mogulof said. "They were implementing a very clear plan to engage in violence, disruption and property destruction."

But the problem Wednesday night did not start with the ninjas. And it didn't start with Milo either. It started with a university that does not support free speech. It started with an academic culture that believes whomever takes the deepest offense wins the argument. It started with a faculty who worry about microaggressions and administrators who take such concerns seriously. It started with adults who have failed to show kids how to engage in reasoned discussion.

...It is fine for the College Republicans to invite Milo or Ann Coulter or some other inflammatory figure to campus in order to prove a point about how narrow-minded and uniformly liberal their campus is. But it would be a much more effective use of their money and a more productive use of everyone's time if they sponsored campus debates. Maybe they could invite a conservative from the outside and get a professor to debate him or her. Maybe they could consult with the College Democrats to sponsor a joint event.

As things stand now, speakers are invited to campus and, if you agree with them, you will go to the auditorium to listen, and if you disagree, you will stand outside protesting. How much better would it be if students could see two adults take on each other's arguments in calm, articulate, informed terms? Some of the most inflammatory speakers might not come. It's so much easier, after all, to shout slogans than to be challenged by a smart person on the other side of the aisle. But if the track record of Intelligence Squared is any guide, at least some of our public intellectuals would rise to the occasion.

The problem is, it's easier to feel like you and your side "won" a protest than an actual contest of wits -- like in this case: "Wendy McElroy Debates -- No, Demolishes -- Jessica Valenti On So-Called "Rape Culture."

via @stevestuwill