One reason is associated with an oft-stated expression: learning is often a product of being stretched out of one’s comfort zone. In researching her forthcoming book, Tested: Why Conservative Students Get the Most Out of Liberal Education, Professor Lauren A. Wright found that conservatively oriented students had to stretch more than liberally-minded students because there are fewer of the former and more of the latter. Consequently, students on the right must understand the other’s position as they express and defend themselves. “These divergent experiences, she writes in The Atlantic, produce a striking asymmetry in preparedness for policy discussions on many topics: abortion, affirmative action, environmental policy, economics, Israel-Palestine. Conservative students tend to know both sides of an issue cold.” Read more here.