Long Beach City College department heads should bring a variety of conservative guest speakers onto campus that indulges students in critical thinking.
LBCC has brought different speakers onto campus that were more liberal than conservative. The department heads suggest who they want to bring onto campus as a speaker.
Cornel West, political activist and american philosopher, visited LBCC for the Student Equity Speaker Series back in Oct. 2016. The 2016 Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton was also brought onto campus.
Other speakers such as, Tarak Ouk, alumnus and local chef, were brought onto campus and shared his story of struggle, along with Alicia Cass, alumna and author, that spoke about her upbringing of being a homeless teenage mother and gang member.
LBCC has made an effort to bring a multitude of speakers, however, West and Clinton are on left side of the ideological spectrum.
Our college is known to have a diversity of students on campus. The benefit to having a diverse student body allows students to create new ideas, opinions, and gather information.
Department heads should bring in voices that will challenge student’s thoughts with different ideas and beliefs. College is known to be a place to help students critically think.
Critical thinking helps with decision making and problem solving. Students will understand arguments or dialogue through evidence and interpretation.
Conservative club, Turning Point USA at LBCC, brought Michael Swartz, the San Diego County gun owners president, onto campus to speak about why gun control fails in America. He spoke to about 15 students in attendance.
When clubs and organizations bring these speakers, the event is not promoted well and lacks the audience for a bigger impact.
Those who are involved in these clubs and organizations, are typically the only ones in attendance.
By having more conservative voices brought onto campus, LBCC can begin to see a diverse group of speakers.
The clubs and organizations on campus should not be the only people that bring speakers that promote diverse thinking. In order to have a diverse set of voices, the department heads must make more of an effort to invite a variety of political figures.
Bringing in a different voice on campus would help students become more involved in different types of discussion. Students would have a chance to work on their communication skills and structuring their ideas.
Diversity is not just having a variety of races, religions, genders or sexual orientations. If one of the purposes of higher learning is to expand critical thinking, then part of the diversity we should be striving for is diversity of thought.