Why a great education means engaging with controversy | Jon Zimmerman

During times of war or national crisis in the U.S., school boards and officials are much more wary about allowing teachers and kids to say what they think. - If our teachers avoid controversial questions in the classroom, kids won't get the experience they need to know how to engage with difficult questions and with criticism. - Jon Zimmerman argues that controversial issues should be taught in schools as they naturally arise. Otherwise kids will learn from TV news what politics looks like – which is more often a rant than a healthy debate. Zimmerman is Professor of History of Education at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. A former Peace Corps volunteer and high school social studies teacher, Zimmerman is the author of "Campus Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know" (Oxford) and six other books. He is also a frequent contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, and other popular periodicals. His latest book is "The Case for Contention: Teaching Controversial Issues in American Schools" https://amzn.to/2KE6zrL If you're interested in licensing this or any other Big Think clip for commercial or private use, contact our licensing partner Executive Interviews: https://ift.tt/2IQF1gR Read more at BigThink.com: https://ift.tt/2X3QugE Follow Big Think here: YouTube: http://goo.gl/CPTsV5 Facebook: https://ift.tt/1qJMX5g Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigthink