Education in an Election Year
A symposium at Sidwell Friends convened heads of schools from around the country to discuss the importance of civil discourse in uncivil times.
The fraught nature of American politics has a long history of creeping into school classrooms, whether it’s arguments over the Pledge of Allegiance, book bans, or critical race theory. But where independent schools have often avoided such controversies by carving out their own philosophical niches and value sets, the last decade of presidential election cycles have proved that no school is immune from the ideological volatility and passions of the nation. Maintaining an educational atmosphere where debate is encouraged and differing perspectives are sought can be particularly tough at a time when just holding a political opinion or supporting a specific candidate can be seen as divisive, or even threatening, to different populations on campus. Worse, in an era of gun violence, racial unrest, and the horrors of wars abroad, schools are often asked by parents, students, and alumni to take stands on the issues of the day.
To help independent schools navigate this charged landscape, the National Association of Independent Schools, the Association of Independent Schools of Greater Washington, the Friends Council on Education, and Sidwell Friends School co-sponsored an election-year symposium for independent school leaders last week called Seeking Civility in Uncivil Times: A Conversation About Schools, Pluralism, and Political Discourse. The event took place at Sidwell Friends and welcomed dozens of heads of schools from around the country.
Founder and President of Interfaith America Eboo Patel opened the event with a keynote address in which he lauded the advancement of pluralism as an ethic central to America. Living up to that value means “proactively seeking positive exchanges.” For Patel, schools are arenas for positive intellectual exploration not grandstanding, a place for reason not bullying.
It’s a theme that Head of School Bryan Garman took up in a breakout session called Fostering a Culture of Civil Discourse and Engagement. “We need to create space for students to develop their own political consciousnesses,” he said, noting that such spaces are not “safe spaces, but brave spaces.” Garman also drew a distinction between schools and advocacy organizations. “We’re here to educate kids,” he said. “We’re not here to affirm someone’s politics. A school’s status should be tied to academic integrity, not political positions.”
To underscore the point, Garman noted that federal law actually prohibits schools such as Sidwell Friends from endorsing political candidates or taking partisan positions. They can, however, declare their principles. Sidwell Friends, Garman said, stands for the belief that there is something of the divine in every person that mandates respect for one another; there is immense import in truth-seeking and deep-listening, which means having the humility to accept that you could be wrong in your views; and there is a commitment to peace and nonviolent resolutions to conflicts.
But values are not policy positions. They are guides. “Our job,” Garman said, “is to use those guides to help students discover the teacher within.”
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