Why a great education means engaging with controversy | Jon Zimmerman

During times of war or national crisis in the U.S., school boards and officials are much more wary about allowing teachers and kids to say what they think.

- If our teachers avoid controversial questions in the classroom, kids won't get the experience they need to know how to engage with difficult questions and with criticism.

- Jon Zimmerman argues that controversial issues should be taught in schools as they naturally arise. Otherwise kids will learn from TV news what politics looks like – which is more often a rant than a healthy debate.

Zimmerman is Professor of History of Education at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school social studies teacher, Zimmerman is the author of "Campus Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know" (Oxford) and six other books. He is also a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, and other popular periodicals. His latest book is "The Case for Contention: Teaching Controversial Issues in American Schools" https://amzn.to/2KE6zrL

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