Rules of Engagement for Emotional Discussions
Tamara Fyke,
edCircuit,
Nov 11, 2020
While educators like to talk about collaboration it seems to me that an argument is a classic case whether two people are not collaborating - they don't share the same goal, by definition - but are rather cooperating. I say 'cooperating' instead of 'competing' because in an argument (as opposed to a fight) they have agreed to engage. This post talks about rules of engagement, and it's a good summary from that perspective, but I want to highlight the ways in which these are different from collaboration. The purpose here isn't to reach some sort of common outcome, but to nonetheless help the participants help each other (and to not hurt each other) by setting out a mechanism that enables them to fruitfully interact. If 2020 has taught us anything, it is that while agreement is sometimes important, being able to disagree is even more important.
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