Penobscot Times posts media release about tone policing

The Penobscot Times posted a University of Maine media release about university researchers Catharine Biddle and Elizabeth Hufnagel exploring the role of tone policing and the calls for civility in student voice. In a high school setting, where teaching students to be active participants in civic life is an educational goal, Hufnagel and Biddle said tone policing and calls for civility may be teaching the wrong lesson. “It is worth considering deeply whether or not this type of civic education, which reifies civility as a desirable quality over providing youth with a critical understanding of the strategic power of choosing civility, is desirable.”