I'm 21. I've got significant confidence. I'm also very assertive. Roll those character traits together with my perpetual boredom in class, and I wind up speaking out a lot. Every since high school, I was always the student to speak my opinion first and throw in my 2 cents every chance I got. As a result, I'm not well liked by instructors and some portion of students (typically those with differing views). I'm quite glad I just graduated.
I've made some very unpopular statements in philosophy, government, or similar classes wrought with highly debated topics. In about 8 years of this, not one person has spoken up in agreement with me during class. In fact, I've publicly asked the class "doesn't anyone agree with me?" several times. Not a single hand has ever gone up.
However, on numerous occasions, I have had peers come up to me after class and thank me for voicing an opinion they shared. I can think of 3 reasons for the refusal to do this publicly.
1) Students (or employees) are conditioned not to challenge the views of their instructor (or manager) -- it is in the best interest of their GPA (or career)
2) It seems that there is a expectation that unpopular ideas are held by unpopular people. It is socially safer to keep your opinions to yourself.
3) When someone is in trouble and only one person is there to see it, that person feels compelled to help. When someone is in trouble and there is a crowd watching, it is often far longer before someone steps up to help because no one feels that they are responsible.
I've had the same thing happen, no support in class, then afterwards people come up to me and ask me about further reading on the subject/unpopular opinion.
try this on for size in a government class sometime: the founding fathers were terrorist tax evaders and democracy is a stupid idea. People have no idea how to react, it hurts their brain to go that far outside "normal thinking".
Just keep this in mind: you can voice your opinion at anytime as well as be proactive. You just need to make sure you thought about what and how you're going to say it well in advance. Acting on pure emotions and not some form of strategy can get you in trouble.
I've made some very unpopular statements in philosophy, government, or similar classes wrought with highly debated topics. In about 8 years of this, not one person has spoken up in agreement with me during class. In fact, I've publicly asked the class "doesn't anyone agree with me?" several times. Not a single hand has ever gone up.
However, on numerous occasions, I have had peers come up to me after class and thank me for voicing an opinion they shared. I can think of 3 reasons for the refusal to do this publicly.
1) Students (or employees) are conditioned not to challenge the views of their instructor (or manager) -- it is in the best interest of their GPA (or career)
2) It seems that there is a expectation that unpopular ideas are held by unpopular people. It is socially safer to keep your opinions to yourself.
3) When someone is in trouble and only one person is there to see it, that person feels compelled to help. When someone is in trouble and there is a crowd watching, it is often far longer before someone steps up to help because no one feels that they are responsible.