By: Lynn Schoch, Adjunct Instructor of English at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, Indiana
We are thrilled to present this perspective from Lynn Schoch Convergence Leadership Council Member and Instructor at Ivy Tech Community College, Bloomington.
Interested in sharing your perspective on how we can better solve problems together? Message us here on LinkedIn or contact us at: https://convergencepolicy.org/contact-us/
I had taught basic composition at the local community college for ten years when I was offered a chance to teach the advanced writing course, “Rhetoric and Argument.” Such courses were traditionally designed to teach research-based, analytical writing that would prepare students for the term papers required in advanced courses. Typically, students learned to form a strong thesis and build a strong case for it supported by outside evidence. That strategy works well for term papers, but when it is carried into a profoundly polarized world, it is less effective. It leads to preaching to the choir or talking to the wall. Those that agree with the thesis will nod their heads, gaining not much in the way of new knowledge and being ever more confirmed in their beliefs. Those who disagree will stop reading after the first paragraph and go on their way with no further assault on their beliefs.
While I was thinking how I would teach such a course, a friend pointed me to the work of Convergence Center for Policy Resolution in Washington, D.C. For more than a decade, they brought together leaders representing a full spectrum of positions on major social issues and through extended conversations and discussions, led the group to propose resolutions, often unexpected ones, that all could embrace. Here was an approach to arguing that put working ahead of winning, cooperation before proclamation. To teach the advanced course, I had to meet established institutional objectives: Master critical thinking skills. Use and document research. Evaluate the validity of logic and reasoning in arguments. If I were to adopt the Convergence approach to arguing, I felt I could still meet these goals, and I was given leave to experiment.
I contacted Rob Fersh, the founder of Convergence. He was intrigued that the experience of Convergence, which was designed to address and resolve issues at a high level with the help of leaders in the field, could be of use in the college classroom. He led me to articles and podcasts, materials that established the rudiments of the Convergence process. I embedded them into classroom activities and into required reading. Students who came to the class expecting instruction in logical reasoning, research techniques, footnoting, and drafting and revising papers, got all that – and discovered a whole new way of thinking.
Assigned readings from a variety of sources — recent magazines, newspapers, online essays — addressed the dangers and ill effects of the polarity that was dividing us. In activities and assigned writing, they had to apply principles of Convergence: separating persons from their opinions, acknowledging differences but identifying common values. Exercises asked students to imagine how to apply Convergence to local or personal issues. They had to write a description of the personality and nonpolitical views of someone they knew whose politics were radically different from their own. They had to outline a strategy for setting up and managing a meeting of community stakeholders charged with deciding what to do about a school named after a major community benefactor who was discovered to have been a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
Students undertook group activities that applied the Convergence approach. In one exercise, they listed topics that were too polarizing for discussion and then proposed a variation of the topic that could be discussed — for example, not abortion, but pre- and post-natal care of low-income mothers. In another instance, the class was divided into small groups which were charged with taking on the role of parents whose daughter had threated to blow up her school. The groups had to decide how the parents would negotiate a public meeting that the community demanded they attend. Groups then compared the effectiveness of their different strategies.
Convergence became part of my Ivy Tech writing course four years ago, just as Rob Fersh and Mariah Levison began working on their book, From Conflict to Convergence: Coming Together to Solve Tough Problems. The book appeared in the summer of 2024. Based on more than two decades of experience, it offers a wealth of their own insights and innovative exercises to put those insights to work.
In a liberal college town in the heart of a conservative state, anti-MAGA students at the community college frequently find themselves sitting next to MAGA fans. Knowing that, students typically respond by avoiding any discussion of social issues. Better to keep silent than to risk provoking an angry attack. Convergence provided a different model. Studying a decade of successful interactions among community leaders with contrary views, students saw in Convergence possibilities for discussion without fear. At the end of a recent course, students were given three minutes to respond to the question, “What one thing in this course will you remember the longest?” The majority answer was Convergence. Here are their reasons in their own words:
It affects their writing:
“The thing from this course that I will remember the longest is Convergence and the ideas behind it. It is going to forever change the ways that I approach arguments and controversial situations especially while writing papers.”
“I will remember the concept of Convergence. It has helped me to avoid anger in almost every situation and I will absolutely continue thinking that way and this class reinforced that in both my daily life and how I go about writing and speaking in general.”
It affects their behavior in class:
“I have been in many classes where argument was avoided at all cost to keep the peace. I truly enjoyed how easy it felt to bring up real world issues and actually discuss them without a censorship.”
“I think a Convergence inspired project is a great way to get students to research and speak on issues they could be passionate about in a safe setting, while also teaching them key argumentative skills and compassion.“
It affects their thinking:
“Being able to understand that with everything, there is a multifaceted approach because the issue or hot topic might have some sort of other nuanced meaning. Convergence kind of ties into to this.“
“I hope this doesn’t come off too cheesy, but I really do respect the material from Convergence. I am learning to be more progressive in my outlook of conflicts and I am learning how to construct my outlook in a more presentable way.”
It affects their daily lives.
“I have used Convergence in my personal life and have had unexpected mostly positive outcomes. I always find myself asking more questions after having a question answered. I know more on how to discuss a divisive topic while tempering my own stake and bias.”
“Through the discussion of Convergence and how to talk to those who disagree with you, I feel like the lessons learned have better prepared me to face conflict in my day-to-day life. Now, I have hope that many more disagreements can come to better conclusions than we’ve had before despite these troubling times.“
“The Convergence idea has helped me with so many different issues in my life, and I feel like it’s just a good thing to know. When I have conversations with people now, I try to remember Convergence and what they would do.”
“As with much of the material from Convergence, it is widely applicable to everyday conversation. In my case even if it’s not always applied at the moment, it would’ve been most useful, it’s still one hell of a lens to apply in retrospect.”
It affects their view of the future:
“If the world is to come together for a better future, then Convergence should be engrained into every person’s livelihood so that we can finally build a future that our children can grow up without feeling like they’re being personally attacked for who they are and what they believe in.”
Finally, students were vigorous in their support of the idea that Convergence should be part of a college curriculum:
“I think Convergence could potentially have a huge impact on university curriculum if it was utilized and taken seriously.”
“The thought of Convergence being implemented into university curriculum is a very compelling idea especially considering that universities tend to bring together cultures and ideas that normally wouldn’t interact with one another.”
“I think Convergence could play a significant role in being included in a university curriculum. It would allow students to learn about effective problem-solving and teach how to communicate with others during debates.”
“Besides the general questions we came up with in the group work, it might be useful for students to brainstorm a question regarding how Convergence could help/is helping with issues in their intended field.”
“I think that Convergence as an idea should be a standard in English courses, using it as a way to approach argumentative papers has really been an experience.”
“I would hope to see the concept of Convergence make its way into most if not all classroom settings, establishing it as an academic policy to further the education and growth of students and faculty.”
“I hope that Convergence becomes a part of the university. I believe it gives a better understanding of how to have a productive argument and that it’s good to hear out other sides.”
“I think Convergence’s ideologies are a great concept to have in schools as they’ve proven to mitigate conflict on heavily debated topics.”
