I can’t speak for all of my students, but many of my students are aware of the world around them. Sometimes, they’ll mention local, national, or global news sometimes in the context of class and sometimes when they’re getting off track in group work. There are, however, a handful of students who are very aware of the world around them and bring it up frequently. In some of the proposal emails, I received topics that had to do with things impacting people of color and issues surrounding violence against trans women of color on the east coast right now. I had a pair of students bring back a picture of chalk on campus in the scavenger hunt that said “#Kavanope.” I also have a group that is going to look at protest signs throughout the ages and their impact on audience. I think many of my students have an awareness of the world around them, and those who do seem to be pretty vocal about it. I have a decent amount of students of color in my class who bring up that it’s evident. I don’t have a read on all of them though. I have kind of a 50/50 split on vocal students and quieter students. I think they’re still discovering a lot about the world because it’s a lot of their first time away from their family. They seem to be more aware of the world around them when they feel like it impacts them or the people they care about. Their caring and participation in the world outside of the classroom seems pretty directly connected to how much what is going on impacts their identity and values.

And to the question “Do they hold coherent worldviews?” I want to ask: “Does anyone ever have an uncomplicated not-nuanced worldview that fits together 100% of the time and isn’t ever evolving?”