Using a Political Classroom to Reduce Political Polarization

Diana Hess and Paula McAvoy published the book, The Political Classroom: Evidence and Ethics in Democratic Education, in 2014 based on research conducted during the transition from President George W. Bush to President Barack Obama. In the introductory chapter, the authors describe how political polarization was playing out in K-12 schools at the time. Given that society has become even more polarized, revisiting their central argument that schools are, and ought to be, political sites may prove instructive for teachers thinking about ways to help their students understand and engage with the political landscape of our times.