Sarah D. Sparks at Education Week:
Amid increasingly divisive public discourse, civility has become a sought-after skill for colleges and universities struggling to maintain a rich set of viewpoints on campus, and for employers trying to build diverse workplaces. Now, a new pilot program shows that it might be possible to instill an ability to disagree productively in adolescents—and some of the nation’s top universities want to consider proof of that skill in admissions. As part of Dialogues, a pilot by the nonprofit peer-tutoring platform Schoolhouse.world, students ages 14 to 18 built portfolios showcasing their ability to disagree respectfully with other peers on hot-button topics.
Today, eight selective colleges, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Johns Hopkins University, and Vanderbilt University announced they will accept these “civility transcripts” among the factors they weigh in college-admissions decisions. “I don’t want brittle students,” said Jim Nondorf, the vice president for enrollment and student advancement and the dean of college admissions and financial aid for the University of Chicago, one of the colleges that plans to use civility as a consideration during admission decisions. “I want students who can come here and add to the conversation on campus, but do it in the right way.”
The other colleges accepting “civility transcripts” are:
- Columbia University
- Colby College
- Northwestern University
- Washington University