A Classroom Nudge and Bridge for a Polarized Country

by Timothy L. Fort

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A Classroom Nudge and Bridge for a Polarized Country

by Timothy L. Fort

As a professor of Business Ethics, I’m used to people commenting that what I teach sounds oxymoronic. Business and ethics in the same sentence? Yes. I have spent the last 39 years helping people reconcile these two concepts as parts of a paradoxical whole in any capitalist, humane society that hopes to sustain itself over time. At the start of each undergraduate ethics class, I ask students to tell me a little about themselves and what helps them learn. I have become alarmed by the number of students who are expressing fear around discussing anything values-related, as if sharing what they believe or value will alienate them from their peers. Students often accompany these statements of fear with ones of disillusionment for where we are as a country, poignantly aware of their place in the chaos of a country divided.

By now, we’re all generally familiar with the sentiments: We’re a country divided, and we’re exhausted by it. A 2023 Pew Research Center report showed over 60% of Americans are fatigued by the news. A 2021 USA Today/Public Agenda poll showed that nearly 75% of Americans are tired of partisan divides and believe it would be good for the country to find common ground, but only one in ten think rancor will decrease over the next ten years.

So far, 2024 doesn’t seem to be quelling those sentiments. It is true of course, that some benefit from division and conflict, but these numbers suggest that the majority of the country are looking for ways to overcome these divisions. My experience with students—undergraduates, graduates, executives, and even alumni returning to take lifetime learning courses—should give hope that there are, in fact, ways for us to find that common ground.

One of the assignments I give all my students is to find a piece of music that puts them into seven different states of mind, ranging, for example, from competitiveness to friendliness to joy to reflection. It’s a bit of a riff on levels of moral development created by psychologists, and it nudges students to recognize and inhabit different ways of looking at the world. Then we take a closer look at those states of mind that encourage positive interactions with each other and the music that goes along with those mindsets. (We can do the same thing with other shared experiences such as sporting events, movies, and other storytelling, and even sharing a meal, religious beliefs and interacting with our pets.) When students share their musical (or other) selections of positive interaction, they quickly find a bridge to common ground, even if they don’t exactly share the same songs.

With a view of the whole lecture hall, I can almost see their brains relax as they share their answers to this musical question. They have found something in common, even with someone they may disagree with on social and political issues, something that represents a shared identity. And this small but tangible shared identity can soften students’ fears around expressing their values-related opinions and their political and social positions because, after all, they now share something in common—music. Our brains have significant flexibility, and with a little nudge like a shared cultural experience, a favorite something, we can see each other a bit differently, with a slightly more open mind.

What I’ve observed in my classroom are, of course, drops in an angry ocean of division, particularly in an election year. But they do speak to the potentiality of finding common ground and the power of an intention to do so.

These connective moments gain even more power when the students verbally relay them in one another’s presence rather than just posting on a discussion board. Oral storytelling consistently creates a remarkable phenomenon between listener and teller, the direct experience allowing the listener to value the stories of others even when we disagree with the values themselves. It’s akin to Lin Manuel Miranda’s rendition of Alexander Hamilton endorsing Thomas Jefferson over Aaron Burr because “Jefferson has beliefs. Burr has none.” The exact same psychophysiological phenomena have occurred in my classes and consulting gigs. My students can respect differences (even differences they think are wrong) and value the person with whom they differ if someone is able to sincerely articulate their position with respect for others’ positions. And in a conversational flow of opinions, people are more inclined to talk about their differences, again, with a more open mind.

Those differences include views on DEI and ESG. My students sometimes disagree on such things. I read some heat in a few of those early surveys. Yet, once they’ve spent some time together, once they have found a common connection with each other, even if it as simple as a shared song, favorite television show, or respected athlete, they listen to each other. Yes, they do. And then they speak rather than yell. And when they are done speaking and listening, they feel a lot better about themselves, their classmates and their country.

What I’ve observed in my classroom are, of course, drops in an angry ocean of division, particularly in an election year. But they do speak to the potentiality of finding common ground and the power of an intention to do so. I’ve seen polarized students form bonds and even friendships. I’ve seen strangers open up to one another after discovering their shared love of a particular musical artist or a favorite food or sports team or movie. Shared cultural experiences hold a potency for peace. As a start, maybe ask someone about the music they love or a pet they adore and see what kind of bridge you can build. The point is not that we will resolve our differences in a bitter election year. It is exactly because we are in a bitter election year that we need to find the connective tissues for a nation that could use some hope. ■

TIMOTHY FORT holds the Eveleigh Professorship of Business Ethics at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and is an Affiliated Scholar at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is currently co-authoring a book with Kristin Hahn, entitled Songs, Sports, Stories and Suppers: How Shared Cultural Experiences Can Save America. He has been nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for his work showing how businesses can contribute to peace.

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