Week 11: the importance of student negotiation skills
I found it really interesting to read Why Your Students Need Strong Negotiation Skills, because while it makes perfect sense to me to teach, I hadn’t really thought about it much before. The article positions the need for this skillset so well. Not only will students need this tool when it comes to negotiating salaries, financial aid packages, mortgages and job titles but it is also crucial for healthy relationships! I am 28 and I am just now learning healthy and assertive ways to negotiate and represent myself and my needs in social dynamics. I think there are a many factors that explain why this is: the hierarchical nature of classroom learning, “do it because I said so” parenting, and of course the biggest reason- capitalism
I think there’s something to be said about how the often authoritarian dynamic between student and teacher or even child and parent creates an inability to self-advocate. When you are always told what to do and it’s often only justified with a “because I said so” or “because I’m the parent”, it teaches you that your needs don’t matter and that you’re not respected enough to deserve a justification. This kind of dynamic reinforces a greater narrative of “those in charge decide and you’re at their mercy”. It makes you feel really small and this unfortunately gets internalized. Let alone, the societal consequences if you try to negotiate and you’re a person of color or a woman, you might be perceived as unreasonable just for trying to stand up for yourself. Which is also to say, it is capitalism that deeply benefits from all of us being unable to negotiate in our jobs and in our communities. Because capitalism profits from this, this invaluable skill is often a huge kept secret! I think it’s really smart and subversive to teach this skill to students, not only for use in the workplace but also among their peers as a way to better articulate their needs as well as understand the needs of others. I had never thought of negotiation as a tool to support healthy communication and empathy but I come away reading about this excited to try this in my future classes.