Lindsay Shepherd: My Laurier interrogation shows universities have lost sight of their purpose

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How can humanities departments justify charging students tuition if they are not teaching them to think critically? – One of the research paper topics that students from Communication Studies 101 at Wilfrid Laurier University can choose to write about this semester is communication bubbles. Communication bubbles refer to the phenomenon of people becoming entrapped in ideological echo chambers as a result of only seeking out, or being fed, news that confirms their existing beliefs. This trend has been greatly exacerbated in recent years by social media. As a proponent of viewpoint diversity, I find the idea of communication bubbles fascinating but troubling—I believe a willingness to explore new ideas, entertain a variety of perspectives, and confront information that challenges one’s beliefs are critical values.

I am a teaching assistant for Communication Studies 101. Last month, I showed my students a clip from TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin, which showed University of Toronto professors Jordan Peterson and Nicholas Matte debating the contentious issue of gender pronouns. I mentioned to my class that watching debates such as the one we were about to view is a great way to break out of communication bubbles and decide for oneself whether an argument is valid or not. I emphasized that watching ideas being debated in action is how a “marketplace of ideas” is formed (a concept that is studied in the very course in which I was censured, ironically enough).

Read full article here.

Lindsay Shepherd – Special to National Post – December 4, 2017.

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