Saying the thing nobody in class wants to say is how discussions actually start.

Most silences in a classroom are not agreement, they are twenty people waiting for somebody else to go first. The obvious question you are embarrassed to ask is usually the one half the room needs answering. Whoever breaks the silence does not have to be the cleverest person there, only the first. After that it gets easier for everyone.

Ask the basic question this week, the one you assume is too simple to say out loud. Or name the part everybody can feel and nobody has said. Count how many people mention it to you afterward, because that number is usually a surprise.