I just finished teaching a communication course in a college that included nine gifted high school students. Although they have been frequently reminded how smart and special they are, I was shocked at their lack of critical thinking skills and their highly honed silencing skills! Those two form a deadly combination for not only shutting down learning in a classroom, but for seriously impairing these students' abilities to learn.

Since they represented the best and brightest high school students in our area, I was looking forward to discovering how they had been taught to learn and what they would teach me. Not surprisingly, they were technically proficient. Also not surprisingly, they were confident often to the point of cockiness, but their enthusiasm was infectious.

So, they brought an energy and freshness to this college classroom. However, I was surprised to discover that they also shared a fierce fear of dissent that caused them to jump in to silence new or different ideas. That would not have been so disturbing if they had not resorted to sharp personal attacks in their efforts to silence others.

This was more than just an isolated oddity, however; it was part of the curriculum. Our communication course dealt with issues related to diversity and considering new ideas. These students' attempts to silence discussion on these pertinent issues even went so far as to challenge me as the professor when they claimed, "You're not supposed to talk about racism."

However, all of that would have been manageable, if they had not also employed a tactic that I have not seen outside of toddlers they pouted and said it "wasn't fair" when they were challenged. When a class project focused on racism, two white students tried to silence the discussion by claiming that racism was "not real" or "not my problem." When I suggested that we ask the students of color what their experiences were, they all stated that they had personally experienced racism.

Imagine my surprise when the white girl then turned to me and said, "You're not being fair! You offended me by saying that I was wrong!" We moved on in our discussion to other topics as we reviewed the students' projects. However, the next day, we discussed the difference between being offended and being hurt. We discovered together that it is impossible not to offend someone somewhere. We also discovered that hurting another person was very different and involved intent to harm.

After the discussion the entire class agreed that the offense vs. hurt discussion helped them understand both what was at issue in racism or some other bias, and how to address it. I was pleased until the high school girls came up to me after class and said they were "offended" and thought I should apologize for making them feel bad.

So, after giving them a measure of grace for being immature, I apologized for not doing a better job of helping them learn how to communicate more effectively. They walked away satisfied and one of them said to another, "I really like her. I'd take another class from her again, wouldn't you?"

Is it any wonder that our students are failing in school? Even the "smart ones" are failing to learn in an environment clouded by fear of offending, lack of accountability, and the arrogance of thinking they are all special. While professors bemoan the dilemmas this creates in their classrooms, what is going to happen when these entitled, ignorant children move into the world to lead and work and make decisions?

Learn more about this author, Anne Robey.
Click here to send author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about The missing ingredient in education?
We want to hear your view. Write now!