American Schools Can Learn From Other Countries About Civic Disagreement
Ashley Berner, Johns Hopkins University
Few areas of American life have experienced more conflict of late than public education. The conflict has largely revolved around how public schools should deal with the difficult subjects of race and racism. The situation has become so inflamed that a national school board group asked the federal government to step in and protect school officials and educators from what they said were a growing number of attacks from angry citizens.
As a historian who specializes in education policy, I believe it is worth asking: Is the United States the only place where debates rage about what should and shouldn’t be taught in public schools?
My experience studying school systems throughout the world tells me that the U.S. can learn a lot from how other countrie...