Tolerance for Ambiguity: “Doubt” is Not a Four-Letter Word

Across all the schools we studied, leaders, teachers, and students demonstrate a common zeal for new intellectual territory. While critical thinking often leads discussions in unpredicted directions, faculties embrace this opportunity instead of shying away. Teachers dedicated to truly participating as learners in their school community welcome this opportunity for discovery alongside their students.

Connection: Examining these exemplary schools leads to appreciating how vitally important it is for everyone in a school community to be an interested, active learner. Adults in these environments seem to seek new learning experiences wherever they pop up and from whatever the source. As a result, these schools are highly collaborative in feel and highly energetic in intellectual pursuits. Integrity of thought seems a consistent expectation of both students and adults.

Description: The schools we studied actively embrace opportunities to grapple with the gray areas of human existence. These schools are places where “uncertainty” is treated as an opportunity for learning, and where very little is reduced to a formula. This comfort level with ambiguity seems to promote or develop teachers who:

• Feel comfortable fielding and posing tough questions that may not have a clear answer—frequently from the realm of ethics.
• Welcome a variety of ideas, are happy to think outside the box, and model the active critical-thinking skills their students need to develop.
• Make conceptual connections across content areas, and encourage their students to do the same.
• Don’t shy from conflict, but rather enjoy muddling through opposing ideas and using reasoned judgment to determine an outcome.

As one faculty member at a suburban boarding school puts it: “There’s an acknowledgment that this work we’re doing is unbelievably messy. We learn to expose our human side to each other.” Inherent to their success in addressing new, uncertain or unanticipated class work and discussion is a need for solid teacher competence. “It’s a school about devotion to a subject,” one faculty member explains in characterizing class work at an urban day school. “It’s a security in your knowledge of the topic. If you don’t
have command of the discipline, you won’t feel comfortable leading students somewhere new.” One student remarks that “teaching’s not just their job—they love to teach and it shows.” Another notes that “our teachers are human—they don’t try to be above us. [But] they’re great minds, great thinkers.”
Replication: When queried about how to build comfort levels with ambiguity especially in class work, many leaders and experienced teachers described “sideways” approaches.

• Provide relaxed and real time-and-space opportunities for adult critical thinking. “I think the key ingredient here is time. We build in time to get together and chat … or not chat.”
• Promote the questions you want students to hear. “Teachers are comfortable asking and thinking, ‘Why?’”
• Find the thinkers. “Teachers are selected for their ability to ask questions.”
• Expect higher-order thinking to ground real life. “The rule itself should answer the why. Everyone knows the why behind each rule.”
• Treat ambiguity as a positive. “I used to say I came from a black-and-white to a gray culture, but in fact, it’s so colorful!”
• Resist reducing to black-and-white or right-versus-wrong. “Authentic contemplation is very comfortable with complexity—it doesn’t flatten everything, doesn’t hammer everything down to dogma. It allows time [to ask], ‘What’s worth living for? Dying for?’”
• Make critical thinking conclusive. “‘It depends’ is not the answer to everything.”

Copyright 2007 The Institute for Global Ethics

One Response to “Finding 7”

1. Ethical Literacy® Learning Community » Coaching Session Summary (12.2.2010) – Berkeley Hall School says:

   at

   [...] Finding 7 [...]