Back when she was a school principal in Kortright, New York, Krislynn Dengler saw firsthand how quickly a classroom assignment can ignite community passions. 

An English teacher in her school had distributed a handout of a story written by the survivor of a school shooting.

“The purpose of the lesson was to have the students look for language that was emotional instead of factual, to separate an issue from someone’s opinion or feelings,” recalled Dengler, now superintendent of the 400-student district in upstate New York, who spoke during a recent webinar titled “Controversial Issues — When Classrooms Are Contentious.”

But local hunters and firearms enthusiasts saw the assignment differently and took their concerns to the school board.

“They wanted to know why it was about gun control, which really wasn’t the point,” said Dengler. Still, she listened to “validate their concerns.” In retrospect, she likened the uproar to “sitting at a basketball game where a ref makes a call. Fifty percent of crowd is ‘hooray!’ And 50 percent is booing. We’ve seen the same thing. It’s about perspective and understanding that there is another view, another side to the story.”

Hearing “the other side of the story” is one of the central themes of “Mending the Fabric of Democracy: Teaching Civic Readiness,” a four-part webinar series offered throughout March by Teachers College’s Center for Educational Equity (CEE) and the statewide DemocracyReady NY Coalition to advance the implementation of a state constitutional measure to promote lessons on civic engagement in New York classrooms. “Controversial Issues,” moderated by Brett Levy, the host of the Education for Sustainable Democracy podcast and an Associate Professor at the University at Albany-SUNY, was the series’ second installment. [The webinars can be viewed, free of charge, each Thursday from 4-5:30 p.m. The remaining installments are “Igniting Youth Civic Action: Making a Difference In and Out of School,” on March 18, and “Call to Action: A Conversation with Leaders and Decision-makers,” March 25. Click here to register to attend.]

The purpose of public education, as articulated by the founders of our country back in the 18^th century, was basically to prepare citizens who would be able to maintain the experiment in mass democracy that America had instituted back at that time.

—Michael Rebell, Executive Director, TC's Center for Educational Equity

“The purpose of public education, as articulated by the founders of our country back in the 18^th century, was basically to prepare citizens who would be able to maintain the experiment in mass democracy that America had instituted back at that time,” said CEE Executive Director Michael Rebell, Professor Law & Educational Practice, in introducing the “Controversial Issues” webinar. “Just a few years ago, the Court of Appeals — New York’s highest court — articulated a constitutional right that each child in the State of New York has. And that right resounded back to the insight that the Founding Fathers had — and that was the insight that the purpose of public education is, as the Court said, to prepare students with the skills they need to function productively as civic participants, capable of voting and serving on a jury. But unfortunately, not all schools have made it a priority.”

The webinar’s participants made it clear that reversing that trend begins with tackling tough topics — but doing so in a manner that insists upon mutual respect.

Listening is the key to creating “mutual understanding of how we differently experience the world,” said Paula McAvoy, an Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education at North Carolina State University. And while people on opposite sides of an issue may never end up agreeing, gaining insight into those different experiences should be the goal of “course content that might invite scrutiny from either inside or outside of the classroom — content that challenges dominant narratives in society and can touch on matters of race, gender, sexual identity, religion and ethnicity but can also be other highly-polarized issues.” 

Others emphasized that same point.

I make it very clear that you can disagree with someone in the classroom, you cannot dehumanize them. We’re going to disagree with each other, that’s OK. But how we disagree is far more interesting.

—Amber Joseph, eighth-grade history teacher at the East Side Community School in New York City

Amber Joseph, an eighth-grade history teacher at the East Side Community School in New York City said that hearing out others is both the lesson and the necessary condition for the discussions she leads on Black Lives Matter and other current event topics.

“I make it very clear that while you can disagree with someone in the classroom, you cannot dehumanize them,” Joseph said. “We’re going to disagree with each other, that’s OK. But how we disagree is far more interesting.”

It’s important that we ask questions and then listen to the answers in order to stimulate discourse. We should recognize every opportunity for a teachable moment, not only for students but also for adults.

—Oliver Robinson, Superintendent of Saratoga County’s Shenendehowa Central School District

Oliver Robinson, Superintendent of Saratoga County’s Shenendehowa Central School District, endorsed that same philosophy, which he said is essential for the difficult conversations that difficult times demand.

“Education is truly the antidote to society’s ills, which is why civic education is so powerful and necessary,” Robinson said. “It’s why it is important for us to interrogate our own thinking and to assess our biases before we engage in this important work. And it’s why it is important to empower students and listen to their voices and have objective processes and structures in place so we can stay in dialogue. It’s important that we ask questions and then listen to the answers in order to stimulate discourse. We should recognize every opportunity for a teachable moment, not only for students but also for adults.”

I think there has been a cultural shift since the Black Lives Matter Movement has gained more mainstream attention and a cultural shift in my district to be more engaging with students.

—Lauren Collet-Gildard, a social studies teacher at Arlington High School in upstate New York

Perhaps, as difficult as this past year has been, more of those opportunities are being realized.

Lauren Collet-Gildard, a social studies teacher at Arlington High School (also in upstate New York) and an adjunct at the Bard College Master of Arts Teaching Program, said she is encouraged by the teachable moments spurred by the awakening in the aftermath of the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. “I think there has been a cultural shift since the Black Lives Matter Movement has gained more mainstream attention and a cultural shift in my district to be more engaging with students.”

—Steve Giegerich