The United States is amid one of the most significant political rifts in modern times. It seems like everything has become both political and binary. Suppose you hear someone’s opinion on election integrity, racial justice, book bans, or LGBT rights. In that case, you can probably make an educated guess about their opinion on all the rest of those issues, and others.
Schools have been sucked into this. Parents tend to agree that there’s a ‘right’ way to teach kids about history, social studies, health, and many other topics, but how they think depends on their own sociopolitical views.
Thus, we turn to the experts. What are they saying about how these topics should be taught?
Partisan Politics Are Stifling Education
That’s John Rogers and Joseph Kahne’s position as they write for the National Council for Social the Studies. The pair was responding to a message from a concerned high school principal, who says that kids are “so stuck in their trenches, they weren’t willing to even listen to the other side,” forcing her to intervene in screaming matches, even in classrooms where a “veteran teacher” has “never had problems” with class discussions before.
That teacher, Amber Reynolds, who identifies her school as being in a politically “purple” community, says that their social studies classes have had to give up talking about current events and revert to old news, like ethical discussions on the bombing of Hiroshima.
Kahne (the Dutton Presidential Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside) and Rogers (a Professor of Education at UCLA’s School of Education and Information Studies) responded, saying that the first step is to communicate to communities that there is a goal of “educating towards a diverse democracy.” They said:
“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.”
Teachers Say This Has Worsened In The Past Several Years
This year, EdWeek reports that 30% of principals say their schools have difficulty teaching Civics courses because they’re deemed too “political” or “controversial.” The same survey six years ago returned about 19% of school leaders saying similar. That’s a significant change in just one-and-a-half presidential terms, barely over half a decade.
In some cases, very relevant topics are being stifled by law. Policies have been passed in more than a dozen states forbidding schools to address topics that might be “divisive” or “controversial.” Tennessee’s new law, for instance, forbids teaching or implying that:
“An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously,”
and anything
“Promoting division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people.”
Those are so broadly worded that they could be interpreted, for instance, as forbidding a teacher to tell students that slavery was race-based, that Black people and women had to fight for the right to vote, and that these rights continued to be infringed upon institutionally after being won.
The Election Is A Serious Problem For Educators This Year
Election years are a big deal for social studies teachers. They stage mock elections, discuss issues that are being debated, and may even watch presidential addresses or debates.
Year-round teachers like to bring current events into class — I remember the year we all learned about how impeachment worked and what it meant — but elections are a major cornerstone of our democracy, and they make especially important lessons. Yet EdWeek says:
“Now, with the 2024 presidential election quickly approaching, some school leaders feel that they’re in a bind. While they want to encourage their teachers to take advantage of this real-life civics lesson as they have in years past, they worry that meaty discussions about policy and current events could court too much controversy in the current landscape.”
What Can Parents Do?
Support teachers, even when they’re teaching controversial topics. If you disagree with the content, encourage your child to be respectful in class and handle it maturely. Practice with them dissenting politely, backing up their opinions, and knowing when appropriate.
Let your child’s teachers know you support them in teaching about current events—check-in with your school about how teachers plan to handle election-related curricula this year.
Most importantly, if you find that your kids’ school will not teach them about the election process, ensure that you do so at home. If you don’t feel equipped, seek out nonpartisan educational resources. For example, Khan Academy has a video lesson (it’s short!) on how the Electoral College works, and many more on social studies and election topics.