Education as Politics

Abstract

As America has become more polarized, many teachers are uncomfortable facilitating political discussions, and student teachers afraid to answer questions “the wrong way.” They are, fundamentally, uncomfortable holding complicated conversations about politics and social problems, and feel they do not have the skills to facilitate them anyway. This chapter argues that the only way to help young people develop into participatory citizens in our democratic society is by helping them engage in complicated conversations about politics and social problems, including, but not limited to, race, religion, social class, and gender.