Democracy is easy to take for granted. For most of the last century, it has been advancing around the world.

Older Kiwis witnessed the defeat of fascism and the advent of democracy in Germany, Italy and Japan. Middle-aged New Zealanders remember the fall of the Soviet Union and the spread of democracy across Eastern Europe.

For our younger citizens, democracy is a harder sell. According to a report from Cambridge University’s Centre for the Future of Democracy, 18-34-year-olds around the world take a much dimmer view of democracy than previous generations did at the same age.

This should come as no surprise. Many young people are locked out of the housing market. Real wage growth is anaemic at best. The public square has moved online and become toxic.

For all its flaws and foibles, democracy remains the best hope for human flourishing. And the best hope for saving it – apart, perhaps, from fixing the housing market – lies in education.

I don’t mean civics classes. While we should teach young people about our electoral system and the separation of powers, there is little evidence that civics knowledge does much to improve esteem for democracy.

The heart and soul of democracy is in the willingness of citizens who disagree to coexist, debate, and learn from one another. Data from Pew Research suggest we have got much worse at that in recent decades.

Enter American philosopher Peter Boghossian, currently in New Zealand as a guest of the Free Speech Union. Over the next two months, Peter will visit schools around the country, training teachers and students to have impossible conversations.

His technique involves laying mats on the ground, labelled with a scale running from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Participants stand on the mat corresponding to their level of agreement with a statement like, ‘New Zealand should become a republic.’ Then they are invited to argue for their opinion. They can move if they are persuaded by someone else’s argument.

Changing one’s mind is encouraged. In fact, one of Peter’s favourite questions is, ‘what would it take to change your mind?’

I will accompany Peter to conduct research on whether his exercise makes young people more tolerant of disagreement. I’ll keep you posted on the results.

According to Canadian philosopher Joni Mitchell, “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” Let’s hope we can prove her wrong when it comes to democracy.