let’s set the scene sophomore year ap
world history class to know-it-all
personalities and one discussion
soon to be argument that created a
friendship so this all started in our ap
world history class I walked in as
energetic as one could be on a Monday
morning however my day was brightened
when I realized we’d be debating the
fall of the Roman Empire it was a topic
I really felt I had a grasp on so when
the teacher told us to begin I was the
first one to raise their hand and say I
believe that the Roman Empire fell
because the rise of Christianity divided
his people and ultimately its Empire now
I sat back at my desk relatively
satisfied with what I had to say I
didn’t think anybody could top it until
I heard a pretentious scoff come from
across the room now if you couldn’t
guess Evan is referring to me was the
scoff pretentious probably with good
reason definitely Rome has always been a
fascinating subject to me so naturally I
would have studied it before entering my
AP world class so when Evan presented
his opinion well I had a slightly
different belief Rome fell because it
overextended itself I stated perhaps a
bit arrogantly the Empire was too big to
spread out to properly defend itself
from the barbarian attack that
ultimately led to its disruption I
countered Evans point content that my
answer would keep him quiet a hard thing
to do now first I was baffled that 8oz
audacity to directly come out what I had
to say I was taking him back I mean it’s
something that didn’t really happen very
often so I quickly came back with retort
I said maybe if Rome’s people had been
better unified in one system of beliefs
they could have protected themselves
over those barbarians that you talked
about now at this point eaton and i were
going back and forth and back and forth
the whole class was just watching us
with this final point i finally thought
i had him backed into a corner until he
opened his mouth to speak again speaking
of unification christianity was actually
what connected the empire and helped
half of it survive and become the
byzantine empire which flourished later
on in history again i sat back into my
chair smirking satisfactorily waiting
for some kind of an answer i opened my
mouth to speak but
the Beaufort class rank I tried to get
my last point out but I was drowned out
by bustling children leaving the
classroom I kept thinking about what
Eitan said for the rest of the day I
kept trying to discount it I didn’t want
to admit that he was right in that
therefore I was wrong I kept trying and
trying but the more I thought about his
point the more it made sense I was
thinking about so much it was still in
my head when I got back from school that
day
Evans point stuck with me throughout the
entire day as well just turning it over
and over in my head could Christianity
really have been the major hole in the
fall of the Roman Empire now when I fix
it on something when I really want to
get down to the bottom of it I won’t
stop until I succeed so of course I had
to call Evan to finish the debate we
started earlier now that entire night I
myself have been debating whether or not
to call 8 on so when I saw it he called
me I was overjoyed I almost go for the
phone to answer it but I decided to let
it ring a couple times I didn’t want to
seem too desperate you know now I know
what you’re all thinking this sounds
like the beginnings of some romantic
relationship between Evan and myself I
can assure you our relationship is
strictly professional but over the phone
we finished our discussion because
that’s what it became in a much more
open-minded way I shared with him that
I’ve been thinking about his viewpoint
the entire day and he told me the same
thing yes this is the scene in the movie
where there’s a cute montage of bonding
moments between ebony Anna what actually
happened was quite different
others unsaid we continued our
discussion on the demise of Rome but
this time we were no longer trying to
just simply discount what the other
first time to say we were truly
listening to the other person’s
viewpoint through this we learned that
it’s okay sometimes to admit that you
were wrong or that another opinion just
saw something in a different light or a
different way that you may not have seen
originally if I’m being honest with
myself now it was refreshing to be shown
a different perspective on something I’d
considered so concrete and that brings
us back to the topic of this talk which
is encouraging opposition in the
classroom without this opposition
facilitated in our classroom we wouldn’t
have learned from one another grown
intellectually and personally and
eventually become as close friends as we
are now we truly believe that it should
be the goal of every classroom beginning
in elementary school to encourage his
opposition so that students learn to
truly listen to one another’s opinions
and not just try to prove themselves
correct because we realized that this
opportunity does not present itself
often if at all
so we believe in creating and nurturing
an environment where that voice can be
shared and heard we believe we truly
commit ourselves to this goal will
create students that are more
collaborative understanding open-minded
and successful in the future and isn’t
that what education is all about thank
you [Applause]
world history class to know-it-all
personalities and one discussion
soon to be argument that created a
friendship so this all started in our ap
world history class I walked in as
energetic as one could be on a Monday
morning however my day was brightened
when I realized we’d be debating the
fall of the Roman Empire it was a topic
I really felt I had a grasp on so when
the teacher told us to begin I was the
first one to raise their hand and say I
believe that the Roman Empire fell
because the rise of Christianity divided
his people and ultimately its Empire now
I sat back at my desk relatively
satisfied with what I had to say I
didn’t think anybody could top it until
I heard a pretentious scoff come from
across the room now if you couldn’t
guess Evan is referring to me was the
scoff pretentious probably with good
reason definitely Rome has always been a
fascinating subject to me so naturally I
would have studied it before entering my
AP world class so when Evan presented
his opinion well I had a slightly
different belief Rome fell because it
overextended itself I stated perhaps a
bit arrogantly the Empire was too big to
spread out to properly defend itself
from the barbarian attack that
ultimately led to its disruption I
countered Evans point content that my
answer would keep him quiet a hard thing
to do now first I was baffled that 8oz
audacity to directly come out what I had
to say I was taking him back I mean it’s
something that didn’t really happen very
often so I quickly came back with retort
I said maybe if Rome’s people had been
better unified in one system of beliefs
they could have protected themselves
over those barbarians that you talked
about now at this point eaton and i were
going back and forth and back and forth
the whole class was just watching us
with this final point i finally thought
i had him backed into a corner until he
opened his mouth to speak again speaking
of unification christianity was actually
what connected the empire and helped
half of it survive and become the
byzantine empire which flourished later
on in history again i sat back into my
chair smirking satisfactorily waiting
for some kind of an answer i opened my
mouth to speak but
the Beaufort class rank I tried to get
my last point out but I was drowned out
by bustling children leaving the
classroom I kept thinking about what
Eitan said for the rest of the day I
kept trying to discount it I didn’t want
to admit that he was right in that
therefore I was wrong I kept trying and
trying but the more I thought about his
point the more it made sense I was
thinking about so much it was still in
my head when I got back from school that
day
Evans point stuck with me throughout the
entire day as well just turning it over
and over in my head could Christianity
really have been the major hole in the
fall of the Roman Empire now when I fix
it on something when I really want to
get down to the bottom of it I won’t
stop until I succeed so of course I had
to call Evan to finish the debate we
started earlier now that entire night I
myself have been debating whether or not
to call 8 on so when I saw it he called
me I was overjoyed I almost go for the
phone to answer it but I decided to let
it ring a couple times I didn’t want to
seem too desperate you know now I know
what you’re all thinking this sounds
like the beginnings of some romantic
relationship between Evan and myself I
can assure you our relationship is
strictly professional but over the phone
we finished our discussion because
that’s what it became in a much more
open-minded way I shared with him that
I’ve been thinking about his viewpoint
the entire day and he told me the same
thing yes this is the scene in the movie
where there’s a cute montage of bonding
moments between ebony Anna what actually
happened was quite different
others unsaid we continued our
discussion on the demise of Rome but
this time we were no longer trying to
just simply discount what the other
first time to say we were truly
listening to the other person’s
viewpoint through this we learned that
it’s okay sometimes to admit that you
were wrong or that another opinion just
saw something in a different light or a
different way that you may not have seen
originally if I’m being honest with
myself now it was refreshing to be shown
a different perspective on something I’d
considered so concrete and that brings
us back to the topic of this talk which
is encouraging opposition in the
classroom without this opposition
facilitated in our classroom we wouldn’t
have learned from one another grown
intellectually and personally and
eventually become as close friends as we
are now we truly believe that it should
be the goal of every classroom beginning
in elementary school to encourage his
opposition so that students learn to
truly listen to one another’s opinions
and not just try to prove themselves
correct because we realized that this
opportunity does not present itself
often if at all
so we believe in creating and nurturing
an environment where that voice can be
shared and heard we believe we truly
commit ourselves to this goal will
create students that are more
collaborative understanding open-minded
and successful in the future and isn’t
that what education is all about thank
you [Applause]
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