On Wednesday, February 19th, 14 faculty, staff, and graduate students attended the first Inklings gathering of the Spring 2025 semester. Dr. Matthew Cantirino, a lecturer in department, gave a presentation entitled “Teaching American Politics in Turbulent Times: Reflecting on the Challenges and Opportunities.”
In his presentation, Dr. Cantirino discussed how students want to engage with controversial topics but do not necessarily know how to do it. In this vein, he expanded on the idea of mutually intelligible disagreement, where deeper reading and rich discussion are necessary. He then described the trend of students asking radical questions that can be challenging to address while maintaining classroom focus. He also explored the widespread sense of hopelessness, passivity, or apathy among students about how our political system functions.
Dr. Cantirino continued by sharing different methods of approaching the problem, such as the civic activism movement and the civic education movement. He discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, stating that a more holistic approach would better address classroom concerns. He asserted that educators need creative ways to “reintroduce the United States to its citizens.” There is a paradox paired with this: the issue is urgent but cannot be solved quickly.
The original Inklings consisted of a small group of intellectuals (whose ranks included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis) who met weekly at Oxford University to read aloud and discuss their works in a spirit of fellowship and civil conversation. In the spirit of these Inklings, the Department of Political Science at Texas State University has held similar gatherings for more than two decades. Meeting monthly, TXST Inklings participants discuss research, exchange ideas, and address a wide variety of issues reflecting diverse interests.
For more information on the series, please contact Dr. Arnold Leder at al04@txstate.edu.
