Politics In The Classroom: How Much Is Too Much? (Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy)
In an earlier post, I pointed out the obvious fact that tax-supported public schools were political institutions. Not in the partisan sense of Republican and Democrat but in serving the community politically in socializing community values in the next generation . The following post comes from nprED showing another aspect of the political role that classroom lessons play in the U.S.
Steve Drummond interviewed Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy on their new book on Politics in the Classroom. It was published August 6, 2015.
The Confederate flag. The Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage. Policing minority communities. Nuclear weapons and Iran. Summer often brings a lull in the news, but not this year. And, come September, students are going to want to talk about these headlines.
But how should teachers navigate our nation’s thorny politics?
Do politics belong in the classroom at all, or should schools be safe havens from never-ending partisan battles? Can teachers use controversial issues as learning opportunities, and, if so, to teach what? And then, the really sticky question: Should teachers share with students their own political viewpoints and opinions?
In their book, The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education, Diana E. Hess and Paula McAvoy offer guidelines to these and other questions, using a study they conducted from 2005 to 2009. It involved 21 teachers in 35 schools and their 1,001 students. Hess is the dean of the school of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and McAvoy is the program director at UW-Madison’s Center for Ethics and Education.
Schools, they conclude, are and ought to be political places — but not partisan ones. I talked with them recently about how, in today’s highly polarized society, teachers can walk that very fine line.
Sometimes it seems there’s a belief that schools should be political … sort of. With students taking on issues – like smoking – that are political but not too political. Did you find that in your study?
Hess: You’re absolutely right, there are a number of schools that encourage students to get involved in political campaigns, but they tend to be political Politics In The Classroom: How Much Is Too Much? (Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice: