That’s the point of the new School of Civic Life and Leadership at the University of North Carolina. Mark McNeilly writes about this project on the Heterodox Academy blog.

As McNeilly states the problem:

Universities do a good job recruiting intelligent people and teaching them how to research subjects and argue their positions well. In fact, perhaps we do it too well. As Musa al-Gharbi states in his article, Navigating Moral Disagreements: “In fact, the more intelligent, educated, or rhetorically skilled one is, the less likely it becomes that someone will change their minds when confronted with evidence or arguments that challenge their priors.” It seems that, in the polarization wars, universities may be the arms suppliers.

So true. A high percentage of professors see themselves as “change agents” whose task is to create as many young “social-justice warriors” as possible, and their classes only encourage “progressive” beliefs. In the rare instance when students are required to read anything that disagrees with progressivism, the prof slants the discussion. If a student happens to raise a contrary point, he or she is apt to be rebuked. Thus, they don’t learn how to engage with dissent.

This is a good development. Let’s hope the “progressives” don’t strangle the baby in its crib.