INVOLVEMENT
The mission of Erase the Space is to connect students, teachers, and communities in a collaborative, non-competitive exchange over the course of a school year. We seek to provide authentic experience with difference and debate that mirrors the problem-solving situations found in life outside of the classroom. By engaging young people in exchanges early in their high school careers, we believe students will be better prepared to take on the most pressing social challenges and issues facing our city and nation with empathy and collaboration.
COMMON GROUND
By providing an opportunity for students to experience peers from different areas of the Columbus metro area, our hope is to allow students to generate common ground from which to generate discourse on pressing issues facing them and their community.
DELIBERATION
The time frame for the exchange allows students time to digest the information and writing from other students in order to critically think. Deliberation is key to careful decision making and thrives when common ground is found.
REFLEXIVITY
The ability to reflect and change as an individual is one thing, but to do that in conjunction with the changing world around us makes it more difficult. To reflect on the validity behind our own biases and opinion is a necessary component to deliberation. Erase the Space allows students to consciously evaluate the point of view of a peer to productively engage in public discourse, we must be capable of evaluating our own point of view as well.