Tensions Between Tolerance and Free Speech in Classroom Discussions of Controversial Social and Political Issues

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Designing Supports for Educators in a Trump Era

Abstract

Purpose: This paper explores a national sample of classroom discussions of social and political issues in the current political climate, with particular attention to how teachers approach topics that are relevant to students’ lives and identities and which may generate the expression of intolerant viewpoints. Educators have reported an “unleashing” of bigotry and incivility in recent years (Author, 2017; Costello, 2016), yet effective discussions require a classroom open to all students’ voices. In this context, discussions of controversial issues can be at once a powerful pedagogical tool and an opportunity for students to be made personally and politically vulnerable. A discussion of immigration, for example, may require the teacher to simultaneously juggle their own pedagogical goals, an undocumented student’s vulnerability, and another student’s “Build the Wall” advocacy.

Theoretical Perspective: Drawing on bodies of literature examining classroom discussions of current events (Parker, 2010; Swalwell & Schweber, 2016) and the political classroom (Hess & McAvoy, 2014; Journell, 2016), we were guided by the following research questions:
1. How do high school English and social studies teachers think about tolerance and free speech in the context of controversial issue discussions today?
2. What challenges do teachers identify facing?
3. What supports do teachers report needing or benefitting from?

Methods: This study stems from a larger project on the study of teaching and learning in the Trump Era (Author, 2017), drawing on three rounds of semi-structured interviews conducted with public high school English and social studies teachers in the U.S. since the 2016 election. Teachers were participants in a 2017 survey of teachers from a nationally representative sample of public high schools. 35 teachers were interviewed in 2017. 18 of these teachers completed follow up interviews in 2018. Six participated in a final round of interviews following the 2018 Congressional midterm election.
Findings: First, findings show some teachers shifting pedagogical methods to prevent airing intolerance (e.g., assigning a paper rather than a discussion to limit vocalizing of intolerant views), while others emphasized free speech and openness. Still others avoided equity-oriented issues and stuck to those that felt “safe.” Second, teachers described challenges around particular topics—namely immigration, racism, gender, Islam, and guns—such as administrative gag orders and fear of retribution. Finally, teachers broadly reported a lack of (quality) support around these issues and little opportunity to discuss them with colleagues. The paper explores these findings in much greater depth due to space limitations here.

Scholarly Significance: This study provides important evidence that illuminates challenges for teachers’ efforts to engage students in productive classroom discussions in the current political climate. In particular, our findings underscore the inherent tension between promoting tolerance and equity on the one hand and free speech and neutrality on the other. We hope this study draws attention to how this political climate compels us to grapple with our commitments to equity and to neutrality. The next papers in this symposium will examine efforts to understand and address educators’ experiences in specific Trump-era locations.

Authors

• Rebecca Cooper Geller, University of Georgia

• John S. Rogers, University of California - Los Angeles