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Teaching Kids Controversy: Education, Pluralism, and Hot Topics

Public schools were created with a mission to bring diverse people together and inculcate shared values thought necessary for democracy. But teaching children about politically, religiously, racially, or otherwise highly charged topics has turned out to be very difficult, driven by fear of igniting explosive conflicts. The result has been that potential flashpoints—but also crucial topics—have often been soft-pedaled or skipped entirely in schools. Which raises a fundamental question: Can a public education system encompassing very diverse people ever teach all children about highly controversial topics? Join a panel of experts as they tackle a critical question that is, itself, highly contentious.

Featuring
Jonathan Zimmerman
Jonathan Zimmerman

Professor of History of Education, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania

Ashley Berner cropped
Ashley Rogers Berner

Director, Institute for Education Policy, Johns Hopkins University

Elizabeth Anderson Worden
Valerie Strauss