Why do we teach public speaking but not public listening?

Why do we teach public speaking but not public listening?

Good public speaking hijacks our primate brains with more force than facts alone. This is why much public speaking advice is geared toward activating primate brains to pay attention: by employing stories, metaphors, pictures, repetition, humor, confidence, social dominance, varied pitch/pace/projection/gesticulation, etc.

But speaking is only half of the transmission channel.

Why do we lack an equal balance of resources and emphasis on how to listen well? Why don’t schools train students to practice skills like how to look past fidgeting, not judge nervousness, not zone out, and decrypt dense slides?

If anything, listening seems more important to teach than speaking. In our lives, not all of us will be widely listened to, but all of us will widely listen.

The most essential prerequisite to a well-informed citizenry, apart from citizenship, are the skills we use to inform ourselves. It’s critical for us to develop skills to unhijack our primate brains, dodge clickbait, and put in real effort to extract real value from our sources of information.

Given the importance of listening, why do we teach public speaking but not public listening?