My main role at my current school is as the Director of Lights Academy, an honors, project-based, personalized learning experience. But to free up time in a student’s schedule, we also embed Honors Government standards within the experience. As I work with students, I really want them to engage in debate effectively, given the contentious nature of political discourse today. To that end, I have established four principles for them to use as we debate government issues. While practicing these steps seemed artificial at first, they quickly became a part of our debate process.

Here are the steps we implemented:

• You are always free to disagree by responding to points, but you are never allowed to be disagreeable or insulting.
• When you respond to someone, use their name (“Dave, I hear what you are saying and I can see your point, but here is why I disagree”)
• When you respond to someone, re-state a part of their argument in the response. This sends the message that you have honored someone enough to listen.
• When talking about political officials, use their title. It is not Trump, but rather President Trump. It is not Biden, but rather Former President Biden. God has established government for the good of all of us and for good order. While we may disagree with decisions made by our leaders, setting the standard of basic honor for elected officials honors God as well.

I am thankful that my students have embraced these standards. These standards may also be used in other adversarial conversations as well. In other words, these steps go beyond government discussions, but are also a life skill as well.