Guest– John Holdridge and Lowell Libby
Ep. 147: “Can We Talk?”: Teaching High Schoolers the Art of Civil Dialogue
Chapters
[00:00] Intro to John Holdridge and Lowell Libby and the Can We? Project
[02:00] The origin story: a student's concept of the “third thought”
[06:00] How the Can We? Project works - full-day retreats, student-chosen topics, and ground rules for dialogue
[10:00] Why college students said high school conversations didn't carry over - the gap that sparked the project
[14:00] The “big sort,” bowling alone, and how Americans have self-segregated into like-minded communities
[18:00] Students leading their own intergenerational dialogues — including a town hall on U.S.foreign policy
[23:00] Can We Connect? — bringing 250+ students from across Maine together for a day of youth-led dialogue
[27:00] Breaking down assumptions: the “ladder of inference” and the gun control conversation between rural and urban teens
[32:00] The mindset of curiosity, care, and courage - and “swimming toward the shark”
[36:00] School smartphone policies and how phone-free retreats change how students connect
[40:00] A nationwide online class asking, “Is American democracy on fire?” — and what happened on election night
[45:00] Closing thoughts on optimism, democracy, and the next generation
Educators John Holdridge and Lowell Libby join Bill Burke to talk about the Can We? Project-a Maine-based initiative launched in 2018 that teaches high school students the mindset and skills needed for constructive dialogue across political, social, and cultural divides. Through full-day retreats held in schools across Maine (and now New Hampshire), students learn to move past their first instinct to react and their second instinct to rationalize, and instead reach what one student memorably called her “third thought”-genuine understanding.
John and Lowell share the origin story of the project, how it's expanded into events like Can We Connect? (which brings 250+ students together at the Augusta Civic Center), and how students themselves are taking the work into their own hands-organizing intergenerational dialogues, community conversations, and even a nationwide online class built around the question, “Is American democracy on fire?” It's a hopeful, practical look at how young people are relearning face-to-face conversation in a digital, polarized world.
What we cover
Origin story — a student's concept of the “third thought” and how it shaped the project's founding philosophy
How the Can We Project works — full-day retreats, student-chosen topics, and ground rulesfor dialogue
Why college students said high school conversations didn't carry over — the gap that sparked the project•
The “big sort” and “bowling alone” — how Americans have self-segregated into like-minded communities
Students leading their own intergenerational dialogues, including a town hall on U.S. foreign policy
Can We Connect? - bringing 250+ students from across Maine together for a day of youth-led dialogue
Breaking down assumptions - the “ladder of inference” and a gun control conversation between rural and urban teens•The mindset of curiosity, care, and courage - and “swimming toward the shark”
Resources:
Website
LinkedIn
Listen to full episode :
