We just completed Sphere Summit I at Sphere Education Initiatives, where we dive deep into civil discourse and explore strategies to help teachers engage and empower students through viewpoint-diverse civil conversations, over complex and often pressing issues.
I had the good fortune to share the stage as moderator with Kristina Kendall and Ben Klutsey for a discussion on their new film, UNDIVIDE US Movie. Our Summit attendees were treated to a private screening of this important film and it was overwhelmingly recieved.
The film's message is pivotal: These are challenging times and what seem to be apparent divisions among our citizenry are alarming. But are we so really unalike? To find out, we need to talk to one another.
Perhaps one of the most important ways we can reduce polarization is with robust, honest face-to-face civil conversations where we invoke curiosity, respect, and the discovery that yes, many other great ideas do indeed exist besides our own. Along the way, it is likely we'll discover that what we have in common and the beliefs we share, far outweigh our differences.
UNDIVIDE US Movie provides a path forward. We can agree and find common ground. We can also disagree and be vehemently opposed on issues. But, we need not be enemies. We're all in this together. Undivide Us provides stellar lessons on how we can work through our differences and tear down the vitriolic barriers of polarization, respecting human dignity.
Thank you Kristi for producing this amazing work, and thank you to Ben for the vital work you and your team at the Pluralist Lab at Mercatus Center at George Mason University continue to do.