It’s that kid again, the one that didn’t do the reading yet insists on participating during the class discussion. Few will take this student seriously because they lack knowledge to form an opinion off of. Yet somehow the student manages to speak more than any other participant who actually read the material. In classes like English or History, opinions on the reading are invalid if they are baseless, and this shouldn’t be any different when applied to discussions on current events.

At St. Paul Academy and Summit School, some students claim discussions stray into an “over-intellectualized” state. The idea of “over-intellectualizing” suggests that during discussions, students distance themselves emotionally and adhere to published facts with such fervor that they harm both their own understanding of a topic and the people whom they discuss the topic with. While this over-intellectualizing does not advance a discussion, the opposite of such a claim does not invite students to drop the responsibility of reading the news and learning as many facts as possible.

A valid opinion cannot be formed without basis. Reading at least one article from a reliable news source such as the Associated Press easily satisfies this condition. However, basis means much more than just research and data. Basis could mean knowledge of other opinions and reasoning. Basis could also mean personal experiences. In most cases though, basis is a conglomerate of all these elements.

Just as everyone must read the same assigned text in class, everyone must read the news and many different published opinions and perspectives of a topic. Doing so ensures that participants have a similar understanding of what is to be discussed. As published news and opinions are available to anyone with an internet connection, fulfilling the responsibility to read such articles creates a framework of basis for discussion participants to work off of. As experience goes, a quick run over of last night’s reading by a friend does not suffice in a class discussion. Similarly, while providing helpful insights, listening to often biased statements by friends or family does not suffice on its own.

To fully understand a topic and form an opinion, one must learn what opinions exist within their community and hear them firsthand as well. Students can easily disassociate themselves from current events on the news, but disassociation from someone that they know is much harder. Though current events and issues are very real, many people do not realize the impact of an issue without experiencing it firsthand or hearing it from someone they care about. Over-intellectualizing lies in the dissociation of current events—students too quickly offer opinions on a topic rather than stop and learn more about it, especially from the peers.

Lastly, though basis can be found in many ways, an opinion is limited to the extent of its basis. A skirmish with the neighbor’s dog does not mean all dogs are violent, but an opinion that the neighbor’s dog is violent is acceptable. Here is where the dangers of a single narrative surface. Students who present their personal experiences are by no means an authority on the topic, whether self-assigned or assigned by others. Those who speak about personal experiences with racism or sexism, among other -isms, do not speak for the entirety of their demographic, the same way that single individuals’ characteristics are not necessarily those of a group they belong to. Nonetheless, personal experiences from peers bring a message home to discussants and should be treated seriously rather than overlooked or discredited.

Learning more about a topic does not end once a discussion begins; the more that students are willing to reveal what they know to others, the more everyone learns on a topic. When conducting discussions, allocating time to share knowledge and ask clarifying questions would greatly improve the quality of a discussion. The more students expand their bases and express eagerness to do so, the more worthwhile and enriching discussions will become.