Teaching Trump? The Teacher Neutrality Debate After 2016

• In Event: 34.060 - There's No Neutrality in Teaching: Politics and the Profession

Abstract

This paper is a critical conceptual analysis of the controversy over whether to teach Trump that unfolded in the media since Donald Trump’s nomination to the Republican ticket in 2016. The purpose of the paper is to unpack both sides of the teacher neutrality controversy to analyze the debate around whether to teach Trump in the classroom. Recognizing that teaching is an inherently political act (Apple, 2000), this paper uses democratic education theory (Gutmann, 1987) to evaluate the choices teachers make when deciding to address Trump politics in the classroom. The paper examines the interplay between the state, parents and professional educators in the debate around teacher neutrality and ultimately critiques the nature of neutrality after 2016.

Author

• Reid Jewett Smith, Boston College