The Continuity of Conflict and How to Address It
The post published here over 2.5 years ago could have been written today. Dealing with division and conflict is as important now as previously except the need might even be greater as the strains of the 2024 election year aggravate polarization. (You might sense that the culture is also more negative generally, conducive to dispute. Everyone seems mad at someone or blaming others for something.)
However there is good news such as: (1) evidence that different schools, colleges, groups and communities are making a variety of concerted efforts to counter conflict through dialogue and other communication strategies for growing social trust and advancing problem solving; and, (2) evidence that some of the interventions being taught and put into action have positive impact. (The gap in posting on this site is partly due to my engagement in such efforts.)
Here is some of the evidence that points to an increasing determination to get past dispute and difference by teaching and using certain skills:
Enhanced civics education including lessons in civility and other civic engagement skills is seen as needed along the almost full- education continuum to make a dent in current cultures of polarization; pilot efforts in middle and high schools aim to equip students with important skills and habits of mind to draw upon when they are confronted with conflict;
In April 2021, The VBAatKarsh presented a Zoom panel on Reuniting America, Part II to showcase ideas and activities undertaken in Virginia alone. The video of that panel is available for free at www.vba.org/civility and there is a wealth of information accessible in connection with it. It followed a January 2019 panel, Reuniting America, Part I in which educators from different sectors like college, the military, a law school described useful strategies in helping adults handle conflict and disagreements;
As we forecast at the end of that video, we produced sample Building Bridges curricula for middle school use and more comprehensively for adults - college through community uses. The pilots using the sample curricula ran in mid 2022 and the suggested materials are available in an e-file for free and for you to use. Please contact me to request the files - no strings attached. (jfranklin@franklinsolutions.net);
High school students need and appreciate opportunity to learn what they can do to improve their social environment. Think about this sobering fact: the culture they have grown up with does not often model civility and respect but actually presents division and conflict as the norm (see opening paragraph above); several pilot curricula in Virginia high school classrooms are offered now by select teachers and volunteers eager to help students change or at least cope with the norm. Hopefully such offerings will repeat, grow and serve as a kind of antidote to the poison of division;
The American Bar Association, which has its own democracy-related initiative, gave an award to the VBA’s Young Lawyer Division this summer for their running the Building Bridges middle school pilots in 2022;
We have learned of or followed more groups and efforts around the country undertaking similar remedial efforts; e.g., Urban Rural presented an online showcase this fall of projects that addressed a variety of community conflicts. What I found so encouraging in the showcase is that the project presenters selected each concluded they had made progress! In other words, they said there is some discernible impact of this kind of intervention. Building Bridges is a theme that is catching on;
Braver Angels is increasing and varying its formats to showcase and model different communication formats and strategies; its activities are gaining traction and its 2024 menu is in full swing;
These and other efforts may fold somehow into preparations for America’s 250th Birthday Celebrations;
As we lose role models from the past such as First Lady Rosalyn Carter and US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (a huge proponent of enhanced civics education), tributes are pointing to their traits of civility and compromise-building. Historians reaching further back into American history (e.g., H.W. Brands, author of Founding Partisans) highlight where and how compromises were negotiated and agreed to in the public interest. According to Brands, the founders did not love each other but held together just enough to serve the union. Brands’ concluding theme with an ending quote from James Madison is that partisan politics, if unchecked, will undo us.
We hope to launch an online information repository to inspire and assist many others to get with the Building Bridges program;
As a building bridges movement is starting to trend, we urge you and your community - be it an educational facility or other group, formal or informal - to embrace opportunities to join in and carry such work forward.