Why Do Students Question Their Opinions?

This method allows students to openly discuss their own opinions and their own observations about certain characters in society. These characters would be characters they personally admire, chosen on their own, and their decisions and analysis would be their own opinion. Engaging in a discussion in the classroom will allow students to see the differences of opinions, and will challenge the path these students chose. This method also ensures that the “powers of learners are directed and released” by allowing them to openly discuss, and therefore discover, different perspectives and opinions while being directed gradually to a well-informed conclusion (Dewey, 151). The discussion also allows a lot of room for the teacher to address issues such as that of race; discussions are the prime examples of what hooks considers “the space for change, inventions, spontaneous shifts, that can serve as a catalyst for drawing out unique elements in each classroom.”(hooks, 11) At the same time, it gives students enough instructions so that they may know what to look for in any comparative essays or texts. The students are not given …show more content…
When students are looking at the similarities between certain personalities, but they were also asked to check the backgrounds and obstacles these individuals had to face. When comparing these, they may notice that different ethnicities face different challenges, or the students might disagree with that position. To add on to the richness of the discussion, one more question must be asked: Do certain ethnicities have a harder time accomplishing certain groups? And if so, why? As students discuss this, they are also learning a more important lesson that simply comparing and analyzing different texts: they are learning about different perspectives, and are in a controlled environment in which the teacher ensures that both sides are equally respected and