Opinion
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion

Help Students See Other Viewpoints and Fill the Knowledge Gap

By Nelson Graves — December 07, 2015 5 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Recent events have shown that it has never been more important for all of us to understand viewpoints that differ from our own. Official online sources can be powerful tools for developing students’ perspectives according to Nelson Graves, journalist and founder of News-Decoder. And join us this week on Twitter for #GlobalEdChat when we will discuss using global books and online sources to develop student literacy. (Thursday, December 10 at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific.)

Menacing. Predatory. Dangerous. Bad.

That’s how the wolf is depicted in many stories that parents read to their children in North America, Europe, and Asia. It’s part of our mythology.

So the managers of Yellowstone National Park in the United States were not afraid of controversy when in 1995 they reintroduced wolves to the mountainous preserve after a 70-year absence.

The managers could not foresee the sweeping changes the wolves would trigger. They knew wolves would kill elks grazing in the park’s valleys. That’s what wolves do, right? They kill.

But did they know that with the flight of the elks, trees would flourish in the valleys?

That by a remarkable ecological chain reaction, birds, beavers, otters, ducks, fish, bears, and eagles would multiply?

That rivers would straighten because vegetation stabilized their banks?

In short, did park rangers know that wolves would change the rivers?

What in the world does the return of the wolves to Yellowstone have to do with learning?

It’s a tale of unexpected consequences. But it’s also a cautionary tale—to avoid falling victim to your own assumptions.

We all have biases. They are a product of our upbringing, culture, education, and media. They are unavoidable—and mostly harmless in small doses.

But in an interconnected world, it’s important to suspend one’s assumptions and biases when confronting issues. Otherwise one risks rushing to judgment—and paying a high price later.

History is full of assumptions gone wrong. Napoleon and Hitler assumed their armies would win quick victories against Russian enemies.

Many Democratic voters in the United States woke up with a surprise in 2004 when the outcome of that year’s presidential election became clear.

Students today, perhaps more than ever, need to suspend their assumptions and hear the other side if they are to thrive—even survive—in a globalized context.

The opportunities to learn about other cultures have never been as plentiful as they are today—through travel, telecommunications, and the Internet, which provides a prodigious tool for connecting with foreign lands, peoples, and events.

But the volume of information has also grown exponentially, exposing young people to a stream of headlines, sound bites, and images that capture news but which often lack the context to make sense of events.

Biases and prejudices can thrive in what I call the knowledge gap—the rift between exposure to shallow headlines and deep understanding of the underlying causes.

Exercise for Recognizing Perspectives in the News
Here’s a game for pulling the curtain back on assumptions and biases: Take a copy of a newspaper with international headlines. Pick a big story. Identify with the class some of the state or quasi-state actors that are involved, assign actors to groups of students, give them time to prepare, and then have them debate and discuss the issue, each group defending a perspective.

Example: Ukraine
Actors: Poland, the European Union, the United States, and Russia

Tip: To the extent possible, students should find official sources and read accounts from news media close to those sources. In this case, a student can learn about Russia’s views by visiting the Russian government’s website, Russia’s UN mission, its embassy in Washington, or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Twitter feed. From there, the student can read Tass, Sputnik News, Russian Beyond, and Russia Today—all in English. Similarly, the views of the Polish government, Ukraine, the European Commission, the United States, and NATO are all found quickly on the Internet. In many cases, there are Twitter feeds.

They should be encouraged to poke around and immerse themselves in other viewpoints. It’s the equivalent of reading the original work instead of relying on Sparks Notes.

One of the wonderful things about the Internet is the access it provides to contrasting perspectives. In this case, students can quickly learn the views of policymakers in far-away countries. It’s similar to what foreign correspondents do when they attend press briefings or stake out officials from different countries at summits with the advantage that much of the foreign material on the Internet is translated into English and other languages. And lacking that, there is Google Translate.

When they come together to discuss Ukraine, students will realize they have radically different perspectives. While those representing Washington and Brussels might view Ukraine as an inevitable member of the EU and NATO, those in Moscow’s shoes could convey Russia’s strong historical attachment to Ukraine and the threat it senses from an encroaching EU and NATO.

This exercise can be repeated for any number of issues:

Example: the South China Sea
Actors: China, the Philippines, and the United States

Example: climate change
Actors: India, the EU, the United States, and Climate Action Network

The beauty of this exercise is that it leverages a skill most students have mastered (Internet research) while requiring them to eschew media organizations (secondary sources) they might normally turn to in favor of original sources with unfamiliar outlooks. It coaxes students out of their comfort zone.

Having a particular perspective is not necessarily bad. But it’s important to recognize that others might not share it. And to be able to put yourself in their shoes.

Things are not always as simple as they seem or as the media portrays them. And while wolves might bite, their impact on an eco-system is a lot more complex than “The Big, Bad Wolf.”

Connect with News-Decoder, Heather, and Asia Society on Twitter.

Photo credit: Illustration for the fairy tale “The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids” by Karl Fahringer (1874-1952), Wikimedia Commons.

The opinions expressed in Global Learning are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Events

Teaching Profession K-12 Essentials Forum New Insights Into the Teaching Profession
Join this free virtual event to get exclusive insights from Education Week's State of Teaching project.
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and K-12 education jubs at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

College & Workforce Readiness How Can Educators Support Students Not Going to College?
A bipartisan panel talks about slowing trends in college-going—and what it means for schools.
3 min read
Carter Crabtree, a Daviess County High School junior, learns to stack landscaping blocks with a mini excavator at a demonstration set up by Barnard Landscaping during the Homebuilder Association of Owensboro's annual Construction Career Day on Apr. 24, 2025, in Owensboro, Ky.
Carter Crabtree, a Daviess County High School junior, learns to stack landscaping blocks with a mini excavator at a demonstration set up by Barnard Landscaping during the Homebuilder Association of Owensboro's annual Construction Career Day on Apr. 24, 2025, in Owensboro, Ky. Leaders in education discuss how career-tech education programs can support non-college-bound students, in an online webinar.
Greg Eans/The Messenger-Inquirer via AP
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion Is It Time to Ditch the Four-Year Degree?
A call for three-year degrees, micro-credentials, and closer ties between educators and employers could affect K–12 and higher education.
7 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness 3 Ways Leaders Develop College and Career Pathways Designed to Serve All Students
Two EdWeek Leaders To Learn From share how they built these systems from the ground up.
3 min read
Jennifer Norrell, superintendent of East Aurora School District 131, meets with district leaders for the School Leadership Team's weekly meeting to discuss a college readiness presentation for students at East Aurora High School in Aurora, Ill., on Dec. 4, 2024.
Jennifer Norrell, the superintendent of East Aurora School District 131, meets with district leaders for the School Leadership Team's weekly meeting to discuss a college-readiness presentation for students at East Aurora High School in Aurora, Ill., on Dec. 4, 2024. She has led efforts to expand and enrich the kinds of post-high school pathways the school offers, both in core academics and in career-technical fields.
Jamie Kelter Davis for Education Week
College & Workforce Readiness High School Grads Lack Clarity on Next Steps, Survey Shows
Recent high school graduates share insights on what would have changed their trajectory in a new survey.
4 min read
Genny Willis, the Academy Teacher instructor at Smyrna High School, listens to a roundtable of students in the program in a classroom in Smyrna, Del., on Oct. 15, 2024. At Smyrna High School, there are career pathways and experimental learning opportunities to help students use practical applications towards careers after graduating high school, which can include internships, advanced classes, and specific on the job training.
Genny Willis, an instructor at Smyrna High School in Smyrna, Del., listens to a roundtable of students on Oct. 15, 2024. At Smyrna High School, there are career pathways and experimental learning opportunities to help students use practical applications towards careers after graduating high school, which can include internships, advanced classes, and specific on-the-job training.
Michelle Gustafson for Education Week