![\"President](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Humility-in-Politics_by-Garrett-Hubbard_48-300x200.jpg\")
The event, sponsored by UConn\u2019s Humanities Institute and supported by a $5.75 million<\/a> grant from the John Templeton Foundation, kicked off a three-year research initiative, aptly named The Humility and Conviction in Public Life<\/a> project.<\/p>\n The project aims to investigate how intellectual humility \u2013 being aware of our own innate biases and being responsive to new evidence \u2013 can overcome current political divisiveness.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an unprecedented attempt to apply humanities and social science research to solve problems in the political sphere,\u201d said Michael Lynch, professor of philosophy and director of the Humanities Institute.<\/p>\n Culture of Bluster<\/strong><\/p>\n Panelist Liz McCloskey of the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University told the crowd at the Folger Shakespeare Library that one way to embody humility is by listening attentively, admitting your limitations, and crediting others for their successes \u2013 all attributes rarely seen on the political stage \u2013 and especially absent from the 2016 presidential race.<\/p>\n Right now, humility is counter-cultural. It shouldn\u2019t be. — Liz McCloskey<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cRight now, humility is counter-cultural,\u201d she said. \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be.\u201d<\/p>\n Jelani Cobb, panelist, professor of journalism at Columbia University and contributor to the New Yorker, added that ambiguity makes people uncomfortable, which pushes politicians to lean toward conviction rather than the uncertainty that often accompanies humility.<\/p>\n \u201cWe tend toward explanations rather than ambiguity, regardless of the quality of those explanations,\u201d he said. \u201cThe humility of saying \u2018we don\u2019t know\u2019 is unappealing to some people.\u201d<\/p>\n Humility also isn\u2019t rewarded in the public arena, said panelist Krista Tippett, host of NPR\u2019s On Being<\/em>, which can lead to more and more bluster that\u2019s mistaken for confidence.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to practice in our everyday interactions \u2013 practice letting go of our own baggage, and really listening to others without judgment,\u201d said Tippett.<\/p>\n The panel concluded that only through deliberate individual habits can Americans begin to re-introduce humility as an important character trait in public life.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no political advantage to admitting you\u2019re wrong,\u201d agreed panelist David Brooks of the New York Times.<\/p>\n Instead of looking to political leadership to model a balance between conviction and humility, Brooks said, people should model humility in their individual relationships with others. Educators, too, should prioritize the use of humility in the classroom.<\/p>\n Influencing Education Alumna Joyce Scott \u201964 (CLAS) traveled from Colorado to attend the event. As a former French major, educational leadership professor and vice provost for academic affairs at Texas A&M University, she appreciated the emphasis on the value of a humanities education.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to see what the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is doing to put these important questions out there,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s so important to get people talking about these larger issues that center around the humanities, especially this year. We need to model a higher level of discourse for our politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n She credits UConn with providing a high caliber of exposure to the liberal arts for all students.<\/p>\n \u201cUConn has managed to maintain the centrality of a liberal arts education, and I strongly believe that\u2019s what distinguishes it from many other public universities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Parag Joshi, who teaches history at Connecticut\u2019s Manchester High School, and Christopher Newell, Education Supervisor at the Connecticut Mashantucket Pequot Museum, both saw the event as a welcome opportunity to expand the way they teach about history and cultural competencies.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s an essential part of the ethos in my classroom that people disagree and have their ideas challenged in a civil, respectful way,\u201d said Joshi. \u201cI want them to engage in the world of ideas, not just a world of consumerism and fame. So I teach them that reasonable people can disagree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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