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Full-Text Articles in Education
Should Deliberative Democratic Inclusion Extend To Children?, Christopher Martin
Should Deliberative Democratic Inclusion Extend To Children?, Christopher Martin
Democracy and Education
To what extent should the child’s point of view be included when a political community endeavors to make just decisions, and why? Democrats are committed to a principle of political inclusion grounded in equal respect for persons. Yet we regularly deny children the right to vote and we often just assume that the citizens doing the hard work of democratic deliberation are adults. As I will show, electoral conceptions of democracy can plausibly reconcile this tension in a way that requires no serious adjustment to the principle of inclusion. However, I also argue that a similar reconciliation seems unavailable to …
Open, Risky, And Antioppressive: Hope For An Agonistic Deliberative Model. A Response To "Empowering Young People Through Conflict And Conciliation: Attending To The Political And Agonism In Democratic Education", Matthew Thomas-Reid
Democracy and Education
First, I review the context for the need of new deliberative models, specifically agonistic deliberative models, for public discourse and for use in training students for public discourse. I then highlight five specific points that I trouble and enrich, principally through the work of Giroux, Arendt, Biesta, and Duarte. While I agree that there is great value in Lo’s description of the agonistic deliberative model, I advocate for what Biesta would call a weaker model of deliberation, one that sets the conditions for transformative education but one that does not act as an instrument for it.
Teaching Controversial Issues In American Schools, Emily Robertson
Teaching Controversial Issues In American Schools, Emily Robertson
Democracy and Education
Robert Kunzman's review of our book is thoughtful and generous. There are numerous points of agreement between us. We indicate a few areas where comments might be helpful to our readers, including our support of pedagogical neutrality, our legal analysis of teachers' rights to free speech, our support of academic freedom for teachers, and the goals of teaching controversial issues.
Political Emotions In The Classroom: How Affective Citizenship Education Illuminates The Debate Between Agonists And Deliberators, Michalinos Zembylas
Political Emotions In The Classroom: How Affective Citizenship Education Illuminates The Debate Between Agonists And Deliberators, Michalinos Zembylas
Democracy and Education
This is a response to Ásgeir Tryggvason’s argument that the deliberative critique of the agonistic approach to citizenship education is based on a misreading of the main concepts in agonistic theory—a misreading that has important implications for any attempt to bring closer agonism and deliberation in citizenship education. My aim in this response is to offer some clarifying comments and questions and suggest some further ideas for expanding Tryggvason’s analysis, highlighting in particular two perspectives that, in my view, deserve further attention in citizenship education: first, the consequences of cultivating agonistic emotions in the classroom; and, second, the possibilities and …
Contention And Conversation In The K–12 Classroom. A Review Essay Of Teaching Controversial Issues And The Case For Contention, Robert Kunzman
Contention And Conversation In The K–12 Classroom. A Review Essay Of Teaching Controversial Issues And The Case For Contention, Robert Kunzman
Democracy and Education
This review essay explores the complexities and challenges involved in addressing controversial issues in the K–12 public school classroom, drawing from two recent books: Noddings and Brooks’s Teaching Controversial Issues: The Case for Critical Thinking and Moral Commitment in the Classroom and Zimmerman and Robertson’s The Case for Contention: Teaching Controversial Issues in American Schools. This educational work requires thoughtful preparation by teachers, support from administrators and communities, and careful discernment about whether issues require pedagogical neutrality or directive instruction. Teaching young people how to understand unfamiliar perspectives and engage respectfully across ethical disagreement should be a fundamental priority for …
A Democratic Critique Of The Common Core English Language Arts (Ela) Standards, Nicholas Tampio
A Democratic Critique Of The Common Core English Language Arts (Ela) Standards, Nicholas Tampio
Democracy and Education
Parents, educators, and students have criticized the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects for expecting students to regurgitate evidence from assigned texts rather than think for themselves. This article argues that this popular critique is accurate and that the Common Core, regardless of its advocates’ intentions, has undemocratic consequences. Initially, the essay considers a democratic argument for the Common Core. Then, I show that the standards themselves, faithfully implemented, lead to assignments and assessments that give students few opportunities to articulate their own thoughts or responses. I argue that …
Education For Deliberative Democracy And The Aim Of Consensus, Martin Samuelsson
Education For Deliberative Democracy And The Aim Of Consensus, Martin Samuelsson
Democracy and Education
The aim of consensus is essential to deliberative democracy. However, this aim has also been frequently criticized. In this article, I present two different forms of criticism against consensus in democratic education. The first, articulated by scholars of education for democracy, claims that the aim of consensus fails to account for the conflictual nature of democracy and thereby disallows disagreement and dissensus. The second, formulated by classroom practitioners, argues that it disrupts the pattern of communication in classroom discussions. I nevertheless attempt to defend consensus on both accounts by arguing that it is a multifaceted concept that allows for different …
Democratic Education And Agonism: Exploring The Critique From Deliberative Theory, Ásgeir Tryggvason
Democratic Education And Agonism: Exploring The Critique From Deliberative Theory, Ásgeir Tryggvason
Democracy and Education
Due to the current political challenges facing democratic societies, including an apparent presence of populist rhetoric, the question of how political discussions should take place in democratic education is as urgent as ever. In the last two decades, one of the most prominent approaches to this question has been the use of deliberative theory. However, the deliberative approach has been criticized from an agonistic perspective for neglecting the role of emotions in political discussions. Deliberative theorists have in turn responded to this critique and argued that the agonistic approach tends to put too much emphasis on students’ emotions and identities …