To do that, our conservative students must know that we see them and respect them. I find that I change their minds by including conservative texts in all my classrooms, and taking the texts seriously by requiring the students to analyze them in the same way that we do all other texts. The students themselves discover the gaps and illogical leaps of their own best arguments. They stay after class to talk with me, and tell me my approach shifts their perspectives.
I believe that discovery works far better than shaming or redundancy in shifting their point of view. I used to pile liberal and radical texts in front of my students. I felt that I needed to demonstrate the nuances of liberal perspectives, and that “more was more” in making that case. I no longer think this.
To highlight the inclusion of diverse interpretations and open questions, I wrote my own Global History textbook, aimed directly at my students’ identity and interests. I published it on Amazon, so I can update it in response to current events. I find that including conservative perspectives in required texts opens conversations and lowers walls of distrust. I encourage my students to add their own interpretations and primary documents to the class discussion. Sometimes I permanently adopt evidence my students bring. I’m not afraid of posing liberal evidence against whatever they can find.
I have found particular success in teaching the 1619 Project with the 1776 Project in traditional courses as well as in workshops that have drawn as many conservative students as liberals. After fact-checking and discussing the evidence each interpretation presents, the overwhelming result has been support for the 1619 interpretation, including from my conservatives.