“We grow by engaging those with whom we disagree.”
Explaining what’s going on the world to children can be tricky; so how do we tackle it?
Though they mightn’t understand it fully, often the news is confusing or sometimes concerning for kids.
Teaching them about different world views is a key way we can help them to understand why certain things happen.
One leading educator now thinks that we should be training them not to get offended by differing views.
With political correctness at the centre of so much debate right now, schools should be teaching the next generation to accept opinions that contrast with their own, Irshad Manji has said.
This, she says, will “equip them to embrace people as complex individuals and not just as mascots of this or that tribe.”
“We grow by engaging those with whom we disagree,” she says in a new video for TIME.
“When we take offence, we’re in reactive mode, and we miss opportunities to ask people why they believe what they do.”
Learning not to be offended by others’ views is a “life skill”, she added, as we need to find common ground.
“I’m not saying that we should clam up whenever we encounter intolerance or outright hate. Of course, we should stand up to it.
“The operative question is how.”
Manij is a journalist author who has written about her Islamic faith and the issues within the religion.
She has also produced a documentary on the topic. She has described her political stance as neither left nor right-wing but “post-wing”.
