At Carroll College, campus conversations about Iran have moved from headlines into the classroom.
“Even though it's all the way in Iran, it impacts our daily lives in different ways,” said student Kimber Koteskei.
Instructors like Associate Professor of History D.J. Cash make it a priority to discuss current events and provide historical context, even when covering polarizing topics.
“I think it's very important to get people who might have different ideas,” Cash continued, “different assumptions to actually talk to each other and to actually understand one another instead of just speaking past one another or worse, yelling at each other and fighting with each other.”
Cash does his best to give students the facts and teach them how to think critically.
“Giving no bias to either side,” said student Andrew Pfeiffenberger in regard to Cash’s teaching style. “Giving a truly neutral setting for us to truly learn and benefit our own understanding.”
Cash encourages students to read both sides of what people are saying, and to use balanced media sources to form their own thoughts and opinions, rather than relying on preconceived biases.
Students have the opportunity during class to ask their own questions about what's going on, and it offers a chance to dig deeper into the subject than what they see on the surface, such as economics, roots, and policies.
“Before taking this class, I probably would just look at the headline and be like, ' Oh wow, this happened, or this happened,” explained student Tanner Joyce. “But here we get to talk to our peers and ask questions and get really thought-out responses from our professors.”
Students say they feel supported and enjoy having the discussions, hearing multiple perspectives.
“No one ever gets mad at you for asking a question or your opinion on anything,” Joyce said. “It's all like, we're all adults here, and it's a great environment.”
“Everyone feels safe expressing those opinions and learning what other people think about what's going on in the world currently,” Koteskei said.
