Antisemitism in America is on the rise. In 2022, the Anti-Defamation League reported a 50% increase in antisemitic acts in schools over the previous year. In this episode, two students from Montgomery County, Maryland discuss the impact of recent antisemitic acts at their high school. One of them, Rachel Barold, was the target of a particularly vile and terrifying incident. Drawing attention from national media, she led a walkout at her school in which hundreds of her classmates and several community leaders called upon district leaders to do more to prevent hateful acts toward Jewish students. Joining them are a parent, a teacher educator, and a Rutgers University professor who has devoted much of his career studying what educators can do to promote the kind of character that is needed in a democratic society. Professor Elias says creating safe and caring schools should be a top priority for educators and administrators. This entails cultivating an environment where all students feel secure, supported, and valued, regardless of their background or culture. This can be fostered through character education, social-emotional learning, and ongoing professional development for teachers and staff—practices that ensure that students feel included and understood.

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Peter Coleman, a renowned expert on constructive conflict resolution, shares valuable insights about the sharp rise of polarization in America and the divisive culture wars that plague our schools. He is the authorof the book, The Way Out: How to Overcome Toxic Polarization. After decades of political division, Coleman says Americans today are tired of the dysfunction and the toxic conflicts. “The good news,” he says, “is that most Americans - the exhausted majority - are fed up with the craziness…and are ready for something else.”Coleman believes the culture wars in education are partly a function of America’s deepening polarization but also of deliberate, organized efforts by outsiders to promote conflict and fear and to oversimplify complex educational problems. In addition, people who have no power are frustrated because they spend most of their time listening to others in positions of authority. Those people “really need to be heard in order for their attitudes to shift.” One of the most useful things authority figures can do, Coleman says with a bit of a laugh, “is to shut up and listen.” Coleman also urges school officials to focus on dialogue rather than debate. “[D]ebate is a game about winning and scoring points and ultimately walking away the winner…Dialogue is the opposite. Dialogue is a process of discovery, of learning, of listening, of hearing the other's story.” What schools may need, he suggests, “are chief listening officers [whose] role is to respectfully listen and collect information from people and then feed it back to the decision making process.”Despite the worrisome rise in polarization, Coleman is optimistic about the future. He believes coalitions are emerging to take back schools, workplaces and communities from the extreme voices and the outsiders promoting their political agendas.

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What role should schools play when it comes to gender and sexuality? What books should students have access to? What topics should teachers and students be able to discuss? What kind of support should LGBTQ students be able to expect from their schools? These questions have become the focus of intense debate among parents, educators, students, and policy makers. Not surprisingly, conversations among those who disagree are seldom civil or productive. Board meetings have devolved into war zones, and battle lines are being drawn as parents are being told their rights are being violated. As the culture wars rage on, it is hard to imagine how anyone (save the few who simply relish conflict) would think the toxic conflicts playing out in our schools are a good thing for our students or our country. I wanted to find out if the use of some depolarizing strategies might make it possible to host a civil conversation about schools, gender, and sexuality with political opposites and even to find some common ground. My first guest, Willie Carver, is an openly gay, veteran high school teacher who was selected as Teacher of the Year for the state of Kentucky in 2021. Mr. Carver (whom I interviewed in October 2022) quit because of the harassment he and some of his colleagues received from a small group of parents. My second guest, Dov Fischer, is a law professor, an orthodox Jewish rabbi, and a political conservative. In a 2022 editorial in California’s Orange County Register, Fischer spoke out against policies that allow students to designate their gender identities. In Fischer’s view, this is yet another effort by the government to divide families, and he thinks parents, not educators, should be the ones to mentor children on matters of gender. Tune in to find out what happens.

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In 2021-22, 138 school districts in 32 states banned more than 2500 books, affecting close to 4 million students. according to EdWeek. In some cases, books are removed because they are deemed by some to be pornographic. In other cases, book bans were prompted by themes considered inappropriate by local decision-makers. Forty-one percent of the books removed from school libraries last year contained LGBTQ characters. Books with prominent characters of color accounted for 40% of the books banned by local school boards. Can people with opposing views on this highly contentious issue listen to one another, have a civil conversation, and even find some common ground? Listen in and find out.

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In the end, nobody wins the culture wars, says journalist Monica Guzman. The surprising key to overcoming these conflicts is to become curious rather than confrontational — to reframe the us/them confusion with complexity. Guzman also urges us to reject the easy answers — the sense of certainty many of us feel that we have all of the answers and they don’t. Becoming curious means, we must become better listeners. Real listening, Guzman says, demonstrates that we understand and care about what others are thinking. Too often, we’re only interested in conveying what we believe and trying to win arguments. When we listen, people begin to open up and take risks, and that’s when real progress is made. Tune in to hear more of what Guzman thinks will enable us to escape the toxic divides over our schools.

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Weston Brown was homeschooled in Dallas, Texas and had limited access to the internet, books, television, and the outside world. At age 24, he mustered the courage to tell his parents that he was gay. Their reaction was not unexpected, he said. “They thought that I was mentally ill or demonically possessed.” Brown had no intentions of battling his parents over their anti-LGBTQ views -- until, that is, he viewed a viral video of his mother demanding that a local school board in Texas remove library books that she considered pornographic or that promoted LGBTQ themes. She also urged the Board to have a local pastor decide which books should remain in the schools’ libraries. In this episode, Brown describes the painful estrangement from his parents and siblings and why he decided to speak out against his mother’s efforts to ban books in public school libraries.

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Remember the classroom discussions of current events and controversial topics? They were opportunities to learn what was happening in the world, hear opposing perspectives, and formulate our own opinions. Recently, however, several states have passed laws restricting these discussions. In some cases, teachers are forbidden from discussing any issue that might cause students to feel anguish or discomfort. According to a 2022 study by Rand Corporation, “14 states had enacted some kind of state-level restriction on teachers’ ability to engage in classroom conversations about race, racism, and other forms of bias.” That study also found that a significant number of teachers oppose these restrictions and are experiencing high levels of stress over the meaning of these new laws because of fear of what might happen if they do not comply.In this fascinating conversation, a politically diverse panel discusses the place current events and controversial topics should have in the curriculum. Panelists also weigh in on two related questions: Who should determine what’s taught in public schools, and what role should parents play?

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Best-selling author Amanda Ripley has devoted much of her career studying and writing about conflict. In this interview, Ripley suggests ways to respond to the “conflict entrepreneurs” that are fueling the culture wars in education, and she explains what it will take to shift from “high conflict” – the kind that wreaks havoc on relationships and public discourse -- to “healthy conflict” that schools and all of our public institutions need to thrive.Ripley has written for Time Magazine, The Atlantic, the Washington Post and numerous other publications. Her most recent book is High Conflict – Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out.

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America’s culture wars are driving great teachers out of the classroom, exacerbating a shortage that has reached critical levels in most states. The story of Willie Carver, an English and French high school teacher from Kentucky, is especially tragic. He was selected as the state’s teacher of the year in 2022 and honored recently with 49 other outstanding teachers at the White House. He was beloved by his students and colleagues. But Carver is also an openly gay teacher and the recent hostility toward LGBTQ educators and students simply became too much for him. In this episode Carver explains why he made the painful decision to leave the classroom. Three of his student also describe what it was like having him as their teacher.

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SInce 2022 the number of new bills affecting LGBTQ students and how teachers are allowed to talk and teach about issues related to gender and sexual identity have skyrocketed. These bills and the larger question of the school’s role regarding to gender and sexual identity have generated considerable controversy among educators, parents, and the public at large. On one side are those who believe discussions about gender and sexual identity shouldn’t take place in the classroom. This sentiment was reflected in a statement by one of our guests, Meg Kilgannon, who said, “Let equipped parents have these conversations with their children.”On the other side are those who believe that as students learn about diversity and respect for others in school, they must learn about differences in gender and sexual identity. Many also argue that LGBTQ students must have a safe and supportive learning environment, especially given the high number who suffer emotionally and socially as a result of bullying and prejudice. As long-time educator, David Thomas expressed, “Parents give us the best that they have, but… for a lot of students who are gay, their first bullies are their parents.”The central questions guiding this Courageous Conversation are this: What role should schools play regarding policies, instruction, and classroom discussions related to sexual and gender identity? How can schools respect the rights of parents while also ensuring that students are well-supported and have a safe place to learn? Even though many of our guests didn’t always see eye to eye, they all agreed that more respectful conversations about topics like this need to continue.

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