Controversy in the Classroom: The Democratic Power of Discussion

214 Pages·2009·1.251 MB·English

by  Diana E. Hess

Controversy in the Classroom
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13 In a conservative educational climate that is dominated by policies like No
14 Child Left Behind, one of the most serious effects has been for educators to
15 worry about the politics of what they are teaching and how they are teaching it.
16 As a result, many dedicated teachers choose to avoid controversial issues
17 altogether in preference for “safe” knowledge and “safe” teaching practices.
18 Diana E. Hess interrupts this dangerous trend by providing readers with a
19 spirited and detailed argument for why curricula and teaching based on
20 controversial issues are truly crucial at this time.
21 Through rich empirical research from real classrooms throughout the
22 nation, she demonstrates why schools have the potential to be particularly
23 powerful sites for democratic education and why this form of education must
24 include sustained attention to authentic and controversial political issues that
25 animate political communities. The purposeful inclusion of controversial issues
26 in the school curriculum, when done wisely and well, can communicate by
27 example the essence of what makes communities democratic while simul-
28 taneously building the skills and dispositions that young people will need to live
29 in and improve such communities.
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31 Diana E. Hessis an Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the
32 University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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1 The Critical Social Thought Series
2 Edited by Michael W. Apple,
3 University of Wisconsin–Madison
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12 Contradictions of Control: School Public Schools that Work:
13 Structure and School Knowledge Creating Community
14 Linda M. McNeil Gregory A. Smith, editor
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16 Working Class without Work: Power and Method:
17 High School Students in a Political Activism and
18 De-industrializing Society Educational Research
19 Lois Weis Andrew Gitlin, editor
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21 Social Analysis of Education: Critical Ethnography in
22 After the New Sociology Educational Research:
23 Philip Wexler A Theoretical and Practical Guide
24 Phil Francis Carspecken
25 Capitalist Schools: Explanation
26 and Ethics in Radical Studies of The Uses of Culture: Education
27 Schooling and the Limits of Ethnic
28 Daniel P. Liston Affiliation
29 Cameron McCarthy
30 Getting Smart: Feminist Research
31 and Pedagogy with/in the Education, Power, and Personal
32 Postmodern Biography: Dialogues with Critical
33 Patti Lather Educators
34 Carlos Alberto Torres, editor
35 Teacher Education and the Social
36 Conditions of Schooling Contradictions of School
37 Daniel P. Liston and Reform: Educational Costs of
38 Kenneth M. Zeichner Standardized Testing
39 Linda M. McNeil
40 Race, Identity, and Representation
41 in Education Act Your Age! A Cultural
42 Warren Crichlow and Construction of Adolescence
43 Cameron McCarthy, editors Nancy Lesko
1 Tough Fronts: The Impact of Street Reading and Writing the World
2 Culture on Schooling with Mathematics
3 L. Janelle Dance Eric Gustein
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5 Political Spectacle and the Fate of Market Movements: African
6 American Schools American Involvement in School
7 Mary Lee Smith with Walter Voucher Reform
8 Heinecke, Linda Miller-Kahn, Thomas C. Pedroni
9 and Patricia F. Jarvis
0 Rightist Multiculturalism:
Rethinking Scientific Literacy
11 Core Lessons on Neoconservative
Wolff-Michael Roth and
12 School Reform
Angela Calabrese Barton
13 Kristen L. Buras
14
High Stakes Education: Inequality,
15 Unequal By Design: High-Stakes
Globalization, and Urban School
16 Testing and the Standardization
Reform
17 of Inequality
Pauline Lipman
18 Wayne Au
19
Learning to Labor in New Times
20 Black Literate Lives: Historical
Nadine Dolby and
21 and Contemporary Perspectives
Greg Dimitriadis, editors
22 Maisha T. Fisher
23
Working Method: Research and
24 Hidden Markets: The New
Social Justice
25 Education Privatization
Lois Weis and Michelle Fine
26 Patricia Burch
27
Class Reunion: The Remaking of the
28 Critical Perspectives on bell
American White Working Class
29 hooks
Lois Weis
30 Maria del Guadalupe Davidson
31 Race, Identity, and Representation and George Yancy, editors
32 in Education, Second Edition
33 Cameron McCarthy, Warren Crichlow, Advocacy Leadership: Toward
34 Greg Dimitriadis, and Nadine Dolby a Post-Reform Agenda in Education
35 Gary L. Anderson
36 Radical Possibilities: Public Policy,
37 Urban Education, and a New Social Race, Whiteness, and Education
38 Movement Zeus Leonardo
39 Jean Anyon
40 Controversy in the Classroom:
41 Could It Be Otherwise? Parents and The Democratic Power of
42 the Inequities of Public School Choice Discussion
43 Lois André-Bechely Diana E. Hess
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Controversy in the Classroom
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The Democratic Power of Discussion
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Diana E. Hess
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First published 2009
14 by Routledge
15 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
16 Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
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2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
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This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2009.
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To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s
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collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.
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© 2009 Taylor and Francis
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
25 known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
26 any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
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Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
29 without intent to infringe.
30 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
31 Hess, Diana E.
Controversy in the classroom: the democratic power of discussion/
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Diana E. Hess.
33 p. cm. – (Critical social thought)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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1. Education – Curricula – Political aspects – United States.
35 2. Democracy and education – United States. 3. Academic freedom –
36 United States. I. Title. II. Series.
LC89.H43 2009
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379.1′55 – dc22 2008048438
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39 ISBN 0-203-87888-4 Master e-book ISBN
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41 ISBN 10: (hbk) 0–415–96228–5
ISBN 10: (pbk) 0–415–96229–3
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ISBN 10: (ebk) 0–203–87888–4
43
ISBN 13: (hbk) 978–0–415–96228–5
ISBN 13: (pbk) 978–0–415–96229–2
ISBN 13: (ebk) 978–0–203–87888–0
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13 I dedicate this book to the memory of my parents,
14 Herbert and Charlotte, whose spirited discussions
15 in the living room shaped my own interest
16 in controversial political issues.
17 D. H.
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1 Contents
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7 Series Editor Introduction, Michael W. Apple xi
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Acknowledgments xv
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0 Introduction 1
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Part I: The Case for Controversial Political Issues
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13 1 Why Democracy Demands Controversy 11
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15 2 Rationales for Controversial Issues Discussions in Schools 27
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3 Defining Controversial Political Issues 37
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18 Part II: Inside Classrooms
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4 Skillful Teaching of Controversial Issues Discussions 53
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21 5 Diversity in Our Midst: Ideological Diversity in Classrooms
22 and Its Impact on Controversial Issues Discussion 77
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6 To Disclose or Not to Disclose: A Controversial Choice for
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Teachers 97
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Co-authored with Paula McAvoy
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Part III: Controversy in the Curriculum
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29 7 Teaching in the Tip: Controversies About What Is
30 Legitimately Controversial 113
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8 September 11: “The Ultimate Teachable Moment”:
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How Supplementary Materials and Textbooks Deal
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with Controversy in the Classroom 131
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35 9 Creating More Controversy in Classrooms 161
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Appendix A: Methodological Overview of Study Used in
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Chapters 5 and 6 175
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39 Appendix B: Views about Issues Discussions 179
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Notes 181
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Bibliography 185
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43 Index 193
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