The Pitfalls of Harkness

Ava Zhao / The Exonian via Midjourney

By ALLISON KELLY ‘25

If we as students can’t get over the stress of speaking just to be graded, how can we help our classmates and therefore ourselves learn in a truly non-sibi way?

When I first came to Exeter, I was shy but excited about Harkness. I was ready to let it do its “magic” and make me an extrovert. A year and a half later,  I still get nervous showing up to any humanities class to discuss the previous night’s reading. I could be fully prepared, ready to cross-examine evidence, make connections to broader themes, and so on, and yet, it’s still daunting to speak up, to contribute anything of meaning at all. 

Harkness suddenly became less about what they tell you in admissions videos — advertising discussion-based learning that the Exeter community prides itself on than it is about surviving on this oval-shaped battlefield. 

I became so focused on finding my next point rather than paying attention to who was speaking that I had no chance to actually learn.

But we’re all guilty of this. As students in such a competitive academic environment, we’re constantly pawned against each other, fighting for recognition and praise. We’ve become so wrapped up in what it means to be the best that we’ve started to lose sight of what it means to be a non-sibi community.

When we’re all just throwing our points out on the table, are we really even discussing? No matter how rooted in textual evidence our ideas are, are they really promoting conversation at all? Without thought-provoking ideas, how can we have a good discussion and therefore learn? But without strong points, regardless if they promote discussion or not, how can we be graded individually for our Harkness skills?

Making a random point or quoting a passage in the text just for the sake of speaking isn’t a conversation. Harkness tables shouldn’t be a competition against your classmates, but a space for discussion. We should be able to ask questions and throw ideas out onto the table without the stress of being perceived as “smart” when doing so. Being graded on how well you “Harkness” should be less about the points you make and more about the productiveness of the class’s conversation.

Exeter claims that the Harkness method of learning, even with its inevitable downfalls, equips each Exonian with vital communication skills. I understand this to a certain extent — Harkness doesn’t allow people to hide from the discussion, thus preparing students for the “real world” of business meetings and conference rooms.  But if this were really true, wouldn’t your boss want you to be actively listening and learning from your peers rather than facing people solely to argue and ask easily answered rhetorical questions? 

I’ve had many conversations with friends about the same topic, and everyone seems to be saying the same thing: Harkness isn’t supposed to be about the value of your points but the value of class discussion. We can’t learn without conversation, and we can’t have a conversation if everyone is just contributing fragmented points in hopes of making sense solely to the teacher. 

And I don’t mean to completely rip apart Harkness here; Harkness is useful in so many ways and allows us to learn from each other instead of a lecture but hasn’t it come to a point of becoming a battle-field instead of a classroom? An academic warzone?

If all of this really is for the benefit of one student body, then why do we all feel pitted against each other? 

Harkness might be causing Exeter students more stress, tainting the discussion that is supposed to be our source of learning. What if we focus more on listening to each other without the pressure of making good points a certain number of times in class just for a grade? 

What if teachers were more open-minded in terms of how students can participate in Harkness? If students didn’t feel the pressure of being graded just on what they’re saying in class, students might feel more comfortable contributing to the conversation, making it fruitful once again.

One way teachers can support more inclusive conversation is by encouraging students to share their thoughts through other mediums besides speaking. In discussing difficult or sensitive topics, students might feel more comfortable sharing their ideas through writing; this way, teachers can ease some of the pressure placed on students to speak during sensitive conversations discussed in class. 

Another way teachers can better support the class is through more feedback on a student’s Harkness performance. I think we can all agree that one written evaluation of class participation per term is far from enough, and it’s not exactly helpful that you don’t receive your evaluation until after the term is over. If teachers were able to give students written evaluations more towards the beginning of the term or at midterms, students could learn how to better participate in conversation in order to help themselves and the rest of the class.

Instead of treating the Harkness table like a warzone, we should all consider it as a place of learning, a place of academic humility where it’s okay and should be perfectly normal to make mistakes. Asking more questions, being more open-minded to other ideas, and listening – really listening — to what our classmates are saying are all ways we can make the Harkness table a more comfortable place of learning. By recognizing we all have valuable contributions to make to the table, we can work together to make sure we get to hear everyone’s thoughts instead of fighting each other for air time. And as our learning is only as good as our discussion, knowing when to hold back and by allowing more students to step into the conversation, we can protect what “non-sibi” means in the classroom and truly learn from each other.