How To Have A Successful Harkness Discussion

              A successful harkness discussion is never one-sided. It does not have one singular opinion, nor reach an overall agreement, nor exist without disagreement, nor have one voice speak for many mouths. If a harkness discussion occurs with no conflicts in opinion, it is not successful. If at the end you feel your ideas are entirely correct, or if you feel your peers have all the same observations, then you have been the victim of an uninteresting and unsuccessful harkeness discussion. There is no unity. There is no common consensus. As a general rule, you can identify a successful harkness discussion if you walk away with at least one of your opinions changed, or ideas challenged. You can tell a successful harkness discussion if it humbles you, makes you see things you did not before and recognize you are not all knowing. If you don’t care to hear opposing opinions, you don’t care to learn; if you don’t care to learn, watch how much weight you give your own views. Send students to a harkness discussion, they come home with a new understanding of the topic being discussed.