Do you feel you can freely share your opinions on hot-button issues in your classes?

Or do you sometimes hold back for fear that someone might criticize what you say? Have you recently been in a classroom discussion where someone voiced an unpopular viewpoint? How was it received by students? By the teacher? In general, how comfortable do you feel stating your opinions in your classes right now, especially those on hot-button issues? Can you easily disagree with classmates? Your teachers? Or do you sometimes hold back for fear that someone might criticize what you say? As a student yourself, have you ever experienced any of what Ms. Camp describes? If so, what happened, and how did it affect you? Do you ever “self-censor” in class for fear of disapproval from your teacher or classmates? If so, what has that been like? How do you think it has affected your learning or development? Do you think your classmates often self-censor? Ms. Camp argues that “students of all political persuasions hold back — in class discussions, in friendly conversations, on social media — from saying what we really think” because of fear of backlash. Do you agree? If so, where and how do you see that? How do you feel about it? Have you ever been in a meaningful classroom discussion in which divergent views on sensitive or hot-button issues were welcomed and respected? What made that discussion work so well? Do you think the college classroom is a place where all ideas should be welcome, or do you think that there are certain issues or topics that should not be up for debate? If so, what, and why? Would your answer be the same for the high school classroom? What do you think? Should a classroom discussion prepare students for “how the world works” in the sense that students should expect to have their ideas challenged? How can teachers make their classrooms places where, as Ms. Camp writes at the end of her piece, students’ ideas can be challenged, “yet challenged in ways that allow us to grow”?