When Disagreement Becomes the Lesson: A Reflection for Professors Teaching Controversial Topics

Have you ever had a student accuse you of grading based on ideology? Have you struggled with how to foster open discussion when you know some students feel afraid to speak up? Have you ever found unexpected friendship or respect through intellectual conflict?

Let me share a story.

When I was a young college student, I took an English class that challenged me—but not in the way I expected. I received a bad grade on a paper I had poured my energy into, and when I asked my professor why, I couldn’t shake the sense that the feedback wasn’t just about form or logic. It felt ideological.

So I told her that. Directly.

And to her credit—she didn’t shut me down.

Instead, that conversation sparked a semester-long dialogue between the two of us. We disagreed, often passionately, about politics, ethics, and the ideas behind our words. We challenged each other. At times it was uncomfortable. But here’s the thing: we kept talking. We kept listening. And over time, the sharpness of our disagreements gave way to a kind of mutual understanding.

By the end of the course, I would have called her a friend.

She never changed her views—and neither did I. But something more important happened: we came to respect each other not in spite of our differences, but because of the depth of those differences and our willingness to face them together.

As professors—especially those of us who teach topics like environmental policy, ethics, social justice, religion, or political science—we often walk a tightrope. We want to teach with integrity and clarity, while also creating a space where students don’t feel silenced or punished for seeing the world differently.

And yet, how easily we forget: disagreement itself can be the most valuable lesson we offer.

It’s not always neat. Sometimes, students will challenge us in ways that sting. Sometimes they’ll accuse us of being biased. And sometimes, we’ll have to look carefully at ourselves to make sure we’re not letting our own ideology drive our evaluation of their work.

But if we handle it well—if we lean into the discomfort with transparency and humility—we can model something much more important than consensus. We can model dialogue. Intellectual courage. The ability to listen generously and argue ethically.

That English class taught me more about the purpose of higher education than most of my degree ever did.

Now, as a professor myself, I try to offer my students the same kind of space. A space where strong ideas can be sharpened through disagreement. Where respect doesn’t require agreement. And where opposing opinions aren’t threats—but opportunities.

So, to my fellow professors wrestling with the challenge of teaching controversial topics, I’d ask:

• What signals are we sending about what’s safe to say in our classrooms?

• Are we willing to be challenged by our students as much as we ask them to be challenged by us?

• And how can we turn disagreement into something formative, not divisive?

The classroom may be one of the last places in society where deep ideological dialogue is still possible.

Let’s not waste that.

Let’s make it sacred.