“Right now, our civic life isn’t going very well,” said Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel in his opening at a recent Upper School Assembly. “And one of the reasons it isn’t is that we’ve lost the art of democratic public discourse.” He went on to say that in order to improve civic life, we need to cultivate our ability to listen, reason, and argue together about things that matter, including big questions of values, justice, and ethics.

Agreeing to Disagree

“There’s a hunger for that,” said Mr. Sandel. “I think people want public life to be about big things, big questions that matter.”

Part of what makes Mr. Sandel so popular is his ability to engage students in moral debate, to wrestle with existential questions like, “What is a just society?” “What should we do about inequality?” “What do we owe one another as fellow citizens?” But rather than posing them as giant philosophical dilemmas that are impossible for anyone to wrap their head around, Mr. Sandel offers hypothetical examples and scenarios that encourage his audience to contemplate them collaboratively. Each response builds off of the one before, offering participants the opportunity to respectfully agree, disagree, or pose an entirely new perspective.

From AI-powered robots to keep elderly grandparents company, to appearance-based hiring in industries where looks sell, to a lottery system of college admissions after a certain bar is met, students were eager to share their moral reasoning. As Mr. Sandel called on each one, several more hands would raise, like a game of Socratic whack-a-mole.

“It was just great,” said Upper School Director John Schafer, who facilitated bringing Sandel to campus. “The students were lively and engaged, they wanted to talk, they wanted to think, they were respectful when they disagreed, they were happy to change their minds, and he pressed some of them to really probe their thinking.”

Challenging Assumptions

One of the most energizing and passionate debates of the morning was regarding whether or not to institute pre-crime algorithms, predictive policing, or AI to arrest people who were about to commit crimes before they actually did so.

The student viewpoints on the ethics of such a practice were thoughtful and articulate, ranging from due process and free will to utilitarianism and losing someone you love. Mr. Sandel’s follow-up questions were thought-provoking and humbling, challenging students to balance rational and logical reasoning with emotional and moral considerations.

Far from the “narrow managerial, technocratic talk” or “partisan, ideological food fights” that Mr. Sandel used to describe present-day political arguments on social media and cable television, the Upper School exchange in the Menlo Athletic Center was open-minded and respectful.

Mutual Respect

In order to launch good humans out into the world, Menlo provides students with opportunities to learn how to be engaged citizens and participants in civic life. The school provides a strong ethical foundation to help them develop agency, take risks, and advocate for themselves and the common good. In combination with critical thinking skills, students are empowered and encouraged to imagine solutions to unimaginable challenges.

Michael Sandel’s visit to Menlo was a perfect example of this, substantiated by his closing remarks: “We’ve only just begun our exploration of what justice means,” he said. “But what we have shown, and what struck me, is that this group is actually very good at reasoning and arguing together with civility and thoughtfulness on some big questions of values.”