I agreed with Charlie Kirk on little in contemporary American politics or American life, and I was not a fan. Still, what I did admire about him was his willingness to debate, not grudgingly but enthusiastically. Today’s politics are a toxic mix of certitude and cowardice—certitude about policy, politics, and American questions, and cowardice when it comes to debating opponents who can push back thoughtfully. Shutting down debate has become more common than welcoming it. And yes, in various ways this is a both sides problem. Meanwhile, too many people lack the skills and knowledge to even articulate a position opposed to their own. And what we’re seeing all around us is where that leads, as thinkers from Jefferson and Tocqueville to Martin Luther King have warned us. At the same time, there is an alarming rise in the percent of young people saying violence is sometimes acceptable to counter speech. That’s an unsustainable and frightening brew.
Regardless of what we ultimately learn about the circumstances of his death, it is the cruelest irony that Kirk was killed while doing exactly that—debating. Given the alarming rise in political violence against figures on both the right and the left, this should shock us. It should especially trouble those of us in education because a large part of our project is, or should be, ensuring that students have the knowledge and skills to settle our differences at the ballot box, through debate and free expression, and with a culture of pluralism rather than violence.
Yes, people will say there are too many examples of coercive education practices and will then cherry-pick cases from the left or the right depending on their point of view. If you’re doing that, you’re part of the problem. It’s both left and right and there is more than enough illiberalism to go around. We should call this out and have zero tolerance for that kind of thing in the classroom regardless of where your sympathies happen to lie. I’m not naive; this will not completely solve what ails us now. Yet it is within our power in education and part of a broader set of solutions to a political situation that is spiraling dangerously.
We cannot allow this to become who we are.
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