Facing Partisan Conflict: How Social Studies Educators Can Lead Towards a Diverse Democracy
by Joseph Kahne and John Rogers
These conflicts amongst students reflect conflicts among adults in the broader society. Unfortunately, these troubling dynamics are having a chilling effect. Educators are now less likely to engage students in classroom discussions about controversial social issues.3 Backing away from this core mission of schooling has grave costs. It means our public schools fail to develop students’ civic muscles, which are the strengths our society needs to climb out of the hole we find ourselves in.
While it’s clear that social studies educators can’t solve this problem on their own, it is also clear that they have a role to play. Social studies teachers must commit to educating towards a diverse democracy. A diverse democracy brings together people whose differences include partisan leanings, life experiences, histories, religious beliefs, racial identities, and sexual orientations to address common problems and build a shared future. Social studies educators can help prepare youth to pursue this goal by advancing core commitments to respectful and evidence-based dialog, informed inquiry, robust civil liberties, and the dignity of fellow participants.