Send us a text If your school avoids hard conversations, you don’t have belonging. You have politeness. We confuse being nice with building belonging. But “nice” often means silence, avoidance, and surface-level smiles. Comfort isn’t the same as safety. Harvard researcher Amy Edmondson coined the term psychological safety—the ability to speak up, take risks, and be vulnerable without fear. In “nice” cultures, people feel comfortable... but not safe. Real belonging requires vulnerability, not ...