College Preparation, Controversial Topics, and Political Indoctrination in Texas

• In Event: Teaching About Controversial Topics in Contentious Times

Abstract

Dual Enrollment classes are rapidly expanding in the United States. They sit in a unique position on the educational landscape. They are college courses; however, they are delivered to high school students. In Texas, where new laws constraining discussions of race and other controversial topics apply to high school classrooms, these courses sit at the edge of precariousness. These laws are ostensibly designed to prevent indoctrination in schools. Leveraging theories of critical pedagogy and indoctrination, this study details how dual enrollment instructors consider controversial topics in their classrooms and considers how indoctrination may or may not occur by way of pedagogy. Findings suggest many teachers engage controversy, and indoctrination may be happening, but not in ways the Texas legislature predicted. 

Authors

• Suneal H. Kolluri, University of California - Riverside

• Julia C. Duncheon, University of Washington

• Taryn Ozuna Allen, Texas Christian University

• Stephanie Cuellar, Texas Christian University