Forbes Op-Ed: President Carol Quillen Writes, 'Tired of Debates That Go Nowhere? Talk Different'
February 14, 2020
- Author
- Lisa Patterson
Davidson College President Carol Quillen wants to know how our conversations might change if we elevate our expectations and stop talking past one another.
In her Forbes op-ed “Tired of Debates That Go Nowhere? Talk Different,” Quillen offers a way out of the circular debates that dominate the news cycle and generate cynicism.
“What would happen if we stopped debating these things—guns and abortion and healthcare—and instead sought the root of our disagreements, namely the different truths from which we start?,” she asks.
“This is harder than it sounds. Such truths lie deep and distant from the positions that they sustain,” she writes. “To expose them takes time and courage. It also requires a way of talking, both to oneself and others, that prioritizes questions over statements, inquiry over argument.”
Read the Op-ed on Forbes
