Be The Learning Community You Want To See In the World

I believe it was in late November of last year that I heard a young person in my classroom remark that she was boycotting Starbucks. I asked why.

“Because they support Israel.”

This is what is sometimes referred to as a teachable moment.

Guessing at her meaning a little, I proposed that she deploy more syllables in the voicing aloud of her position. “Go granular,” I often say.

If, for instance, what disturbs her is the behavior of Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu toward the people of Palestine, she could say she’s opposing what strikes her as Starbuck’s unexamined support of Prime Minister Netanyahu.

She could also make mention of Israeli Defense Forces or human rights violations. Most importantly, she could place “State of” in front of “Israel” and possibly avoid the charge of antisemitism.

Or better, she could say she supports Israel and Jewish people around the world by joining Jewish and non-Jewish people around the world who oppose the behavior of Prime Minister Netanyahu and by boycotting, at least for now, Starbucks.

She thanked me for my counsel. I was glad I said something.

I think of what occurred between us as learning community. We spoke in-between the start and stop times of class, but I wouldn’t draw a sharp distinction between this casual exchange and “course work.” It’s all liberal arts—or liberating artfulness-undertaken within the space called a university or, more abstractly, higher education. I’m for all of it, but I’m for learning community most of all.

I do, however, draw a distinction between “learning community” and other players who sometimes appear on college campuses. Students and faculty locking arms to protect other students and faculty singing and praying on a university lawn, for instance, are learning community. Potentially, most anyone committed to conducting themselves nonviolently is invited into that kind of learning community.

But those who invite or order others to treat such students and faculty like brute force test subjects aren’t behaving like learning community. And needless to say, those who carry out such treatment aren’t, at least for now, there to learn.

An institution is a myth with a budget. Learning community isn’t just a myth. I’ve experienced it myself, and I dare to hope I occasionally embody it. But it can feel like a mere myth when an institution that’s successfully marketed itself as a learning community no longer behaves like one. Another word for myth is story. Another word for story is brand. Each decision tells a story. Those decisions add up and, before you know it, a once vibrant institution is a dead brand walking. Learning community can’t be faked.

When the safe-space-for-learning-community part of an institution of higher learning is abdicated, that institution can begin to look like a catastrophically costly grift. Run-D.M.C. told the truth: It’s tricky.

Learning community, meanwhile, persists. It’s alive and signaling wherever two or more people think—really think—out loud. It persists wherever two or more people listen to one another carefully without interrupting or talking over one another. It persists wherever someone feels safe enough to change their mind, adjust their positions, or rethink their word choice in light of incoming data. It’s present when we slow the tape to see and slow our roll to better read the room.

Learning community is all around us. Cherish it. Protect it. Be it.

Be the learning community you want to see in the world.

Editor’s note: The gentleman being held down by three law enforcement officers in the image above is Professor Samer Alatout of the University of Wisconsin in Madison. He had this to say concerning recent events: “UW probably in the next 20 years will come back and revisit this moment and apologize for it, but for now, they are acting in a fascist form. They are not understanding how the new world is emerging, and that this new world will be written for the most part by these students, who are amazing.” More on that here.