Controversies about Controversial Issues in Democratic Education

The ability to discuss controversial political issues, Hess suggests, is fundamental to living an active civic life in a democratic society. Yet schools so often run from controversy like cats from water. Hess reports on studies of middle and high school social studies teachers and offers a typology of approaches these teachers take in incorporating controversial political issues into their lessons: denial, privilege, avoidance, and balance. It is foolish, the author claims, to expect students to be well-versed in the democratic skills of deliberation and debate if they do not gain experience in these activities in school. (Westheimer)