Political Science Educator: volume 28, issue 2
The Teacher-Scholar
By Elizabeth A. Bennion (ebennion@iusb.edu)
According to a recent survey of more than 100,000 students at nearly 200 U.S. colleges, the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and has decreased in consecutive years for the first time in 15 years.[1] This follows a series of studies over the past decade-and-a-half showing an increase in mental health struggles among K-12 and college students nationwide.[2] While researchers hope the latest Healthy Minds Study marks the beginning of a downward trend, faculty frequently find themselves dealing with tense situations in which students in crisis are misbehaving and/or challenging the instructor’s instructions and authority in the classroom.
The controversial nature of politics and public policy in a polarized political landscape can sometimes lead students without diagnosable mental health challenges to become defensive and/or aggressive, and lead them to challenge a teacher’s authority in the political science classroom. As college instructors, most of us were not trained to deal with such incidents. While some of us may have received an occasional workshop on the campus where we are employed, de-escalation tips are not part of the graduate school curriculum in most political science programs.
Fortunately, the Crisis Prevention Institute[3] has published a resource guide that includes a top-ten list of de-escalation tips for educators. These tips are designed to provide educators with safe and effective ways to handle encounters, situations, and challenges involving angry, hostile, or disruptive behavior.
TIP 1: Be Empathetic and Nonjudgmental
When a student says or does something you perceive as weird or irrational, avoid judging or discrediting their feelings. Whether or not you think those feelings are justified, they are indeed real feelings to that person.
Pay attention to them.
Empathic listening is done by:
- Giving them your undivided attention.
- Listening carefully to their feelings and the facts they’re providing.
- Using positive nonverbal messages, such as eye contact and head nodding.
- Restating and paraphrasing what they said: use their words and ask questions to clarify.
TIP 2: Respect Personal Space
If space allows, stand 1-3 feet away from the person who’s exhibiting escalated behaviors. This personal space tends to decrease anxiety and can help prevent them from lashing out or harming themselves or others. If you must enter someone’s personal space to provide care, explain your actions so the person feels less confused and frightened.
TIP 3: Allow Time for Decisions
When a student is upset, they may not be able to think clearly.
Give them time to think through and process what you’ve said. Just as you don’t want to feel rushed, your students don’t either. Avoid rising anxiety and stress for both of you by giving students that time.
TIP 4: Use Nonthreatening Nonverbals
When behavior begins escalating, nonverbals become key communicators to diffusing the situation. Be mindful of your gestures, facial expressions, movements, and tone of voice. The more a student escalates into distress, the less they can process your words. When we speak to somebody we care about and respect, our tone and body language become relaxed, receptive, and non-threatening. There is a special degree of patience and attention we show to those people. And those same qualities are exactly what a person in crisis needs to see so that they can safely de-escalate.
TIP 5: Set Limits
When a student is defensive, disruptive, or belligerent, they need limits that are clear, simple, and enforceable. Setting limits as a form of intervention is effective when limits are clearly stated, expectations are reasonable, and the limits given are enforceable—not punishable.
TIP 6: Focus on Feelings
As an educator, you understand how important facts are. But when dealing with escalating behaviors, how a student feels is often the heart of the matter. Not all people—and especially young people—can accurately describe their feelings toward what is happening to them. Offering supportive responses lets the student know you understand what is happening and helps them filter through their emotions in a more rational manner.
Supportive responses include:
- “That must be scary.”
- “I know how hard that must have been for you.”
- “How did that make you feel?
TIP 7: Ignore Challenging Questions
Engaging a student who verbally challenges you often results in a power struggle. When a student challenges your authority, redirect their attention to the issue at hand. Managing a power struggle is critical to your mental well-being, as well as that of the individuals you’re conversing with. When a student challenges your authority, redirect their attention to the issue at hand.
TIP 8: Avoid Overreacting
While you cannot control a student’s behavior, you can control how you respond to them.
Remaining calm, rational, and professional will have a direct effect on whether the situation escalates or diffuses.
Strategies to help you remain calm include:
- Taking several deep breaths before responding.
- Remembering that distress behavior is often rooted in fear and anxiety.
- Taking a moment to calm yourself by reiterating what the individual is saying.
TIP 9: Choose What You Insist Upon Wisely
Be thoughtful in deciding which rules are negotiable and which are not.
For example, if a student doesn’t want to work on an assignment at a particular time, are you able to offer them the choice to do it another time, or provide them with another task? Options and flexibility can help you avoid unnecessary confrontations.
TIP 10: Allow Silence for Reflection
It may seem counterintuitive to let moments of silence occur while working with a student, but sometimes it’s the best choice. This gives both you and the student a chance to reflect on what’s happening, and how to best proceed.
While most political scientists are keenly aware of national and global conversations surrounding the need for police de-escalation training, we seldom discuss the importance of de-escalation training for educators. Learning a few de-escalation techniques does not train us as mental health counselors, so we must continue to refer students to free counseling services and follow campus policies and recommendations regarding threat assessment and reporting requirements. But following these de-escalation techniques can provide the space that we, and a struggling student, need to regain our composure and re-focus on core learning objectives.
Endnotes
[1] Eisenberg, Daniel, Sarah Ketchen Lipson, Justin Heinze, and Sasha Zhou. The Health Minds Study: 2023-2024 Data Report. The Healthy Minds Network. https://healthymindsnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/HMS_national_report_090924.pdf
[2] Dutton, Christa. “Fewer College Students Reported Mental-Health Challenges for the First Time in Years,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 11, 2024. https://www.chronicle.com/article/fewer-college-students-reported-mental-health-challenges-for-the-first-time-in-years
[3] https://www.crisisprevention.com/
Published since 2005, The Political Science Educator is the newsletter of the Political Science Education Section of the American Political Science Association. As part of APSA’s mission to support political science education across the discipline, APSA Educate has republished The Political Science Educator since 2021. Please visit APSA Educate’s Political Science Educator digital collection here.
Editors: Colin Brown (Northeastern University), Matt Evans (Northwest Arkansas Community College)
Submissions: editor.PSE.newsletter@gmail.com
