Be open to different ideas

By Roey Rahmil

We're all members of a university community, so we have easy access to unique benefits many others lack. We are constantly surrounded by opportunities to learn and grow. We are constantly confronted with experiences that challenge our preconceived notions of culture and society. And we constantly meet people with which we might disagree. When we face such experiences, we have two options: We can deal with them head-on, or we can dismiss them. I've done both in my time here at Santa Clara, and learning from new things is vastly superior to ignoring them.

Let me start with a personal example. For context, (and, I guess, in the interest of full disclosure) I'm Jewish, and I am politically liberal. For the last three years, I've worked as a debate coach for a group of evangelical, politically conservative high school students. I didn't handle this task very well at first. I let my stereotypes of the religious right dominate my interactions with them, and assumed that they were typecasting me as well.

But I found that such an approach didn't work -- it didn't let me teach, and it didn't help them learn. So, I tried something new: I decided to try and get to know the students, to understand their perspective and to share my own. Since then, we've become friends. They've grown as students and debaters, and I've grown as a person.

Now, how is this story relevant to you? It's certain that there is someone on campus you're different from. Fair trade activists: Meet libertarians. College Democrats: Meet the College Republicans. A university is unique because it encourages such active involvement in a diversity of areas. It's especially beneficial because there are an incredible variety of viewpoints to learn from.

How we handle this milieu of opinions -- what a philosophy major would call John Stuart Mill's "marketplace of ideas" -- can shape the rest of our lives. This is where the choice I mentioned above comes into play. We can meet others' arguments head-on and confront the issues, or we can push them aside.

If we engage others' viewpoints, we grow as people. We learn more about our beliefs, and also learn more about the people around us. We sharpen our critical thinking skills, and we can gain a newfound confidence. Even better, we can change our views if we find them lacking. Grappling intellectually with the unfamiliar, although it can force us out of our comfort zones, is ultimately beneficial for us personally. But there's a greater benefit than that. We are able to take part, even if ever so slightly, in the search for truth. Because even an idea that we reject as false after consideration helps to point us toward what is true.

We lose that benefit, however, if we dismiss anything we disagree with. Remaining enclosed in our own experiences and preconceived notions limit us from growing.

We keep ourselves enclosed in a couple of ways. Responding to opposing viewpoints through name calling and ad hominem attacks doesn't advance the conversation; they only shut down the educational process. Similarly, misinterpreting others' arguments doesn't help us learn and get closer to the truth. It might score some cheap political points, but I think we can all agree that truth doesn't always win elections.

I sound a little preachy at this point, but I'm as guilty as anyone of the practices I'm criticizing. But, when I've chosen to do so, I've grown and learned from discussions and discourses, and I really believe that they are meaningful. Only by genuinely engaging others in conversation can we utilize the Santa Clara experience to its true potential.

Roey Rahmil is a senior political science and philosophy double major.