Future Search

Wow a future search conference is a very interesting method for resolving conflict between different interest groups.  I thought our class did very well to really embrace the different roles they had been assigned.  At the outset of the day there was a sincere sense of discord among all the participants.  By the end of the day, everyone seemed much more civil and accommodating.

I think what this forum does is allow everyone to see everyone else's perspective and it definitely highlights areas of common ground.  People realized fairly quickly what was actually realistic and what was idealistic tripe.  It was funny because even as my brain acknowledged that an impressive consensus had been reached amongst an impossible group of conflicting viewpoints, my heart still wanted to fight for the nit picky little details that so irked my soul.  I think a great deal of practice would be needed to learn how to best present the most important aspects of one's viewpoint and decide which points aren't worth fighting over.

An interesting comparison arose later in the term when the class was divided into six alternative viewpoints around Genetically Modified Foods.  This time, in our microbiology class, it was just an open discussion with the teacher continually egging us on with questions here and there.  Despite the fact that this debate only lasted about 45 minutes, it was obvious by the end that no one had made any progress towards a consensus because we were all just shouting our personal views at each other over and over again.  It was still pretty fun though.