Courageous Conversations About Our Schools

Series produced by Ken Futernick

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America’s culture wars are taking a toll on our schools and students. Board meetings have become battle zones. Fear, confusion, and mistrust resulting from a wave of new school policies are driving dedicated educators out of the profession – a profession already beset by critical staffing shortages.

To help reverse this trend, our new podcast—Courageous Conversations About Our Schools—brings educators, parents, students, and public officials together for respectful conversations about today’s most controversial issues affecting our schools. We are creating space for stakeholders to speak from the heart, to listen to one another, and to engage in respectful conversations about their visions for public education. What’s at stake is nothing less than the survival of our public schools and the quality of education our children receive.

Are we brave enough to listen to one another?
Seldom in our history have Americans disagreed so sharply about what they want from their public schools. School board meetings across the country have become battlegrounds over a broad range of issues: health policies, whether schools are indoctrinating or educating, how race and racism should be taught, how current events and controversial topics should be discussed.

In the absence of civil discourse, parents, board members, educators, and community members are struggling to work through their differences. Relationships are becoming frayed, disputes aren't getting resolved, and the critically important, day-to-day tasks of running schools is taking a back seat as the battles rage on.

We are promoting Courageous Conversations about our Schools to help reverse this troublesome trend. Our aim is to allow stakeholders to speak from the heart, to listen to one another, and to engage in respectful conversations about the controversies surrounding public education.

We are confident this is possible because organizations like Living Room Conversations, Braver Angels, BridgeUSA, and The Heterodox Academy have, for many years, conducted productive and respectful conversations with people holding widely varying political perspectives. Hide full description

Are we brave enough to listen to one another? Seldom in our history have Americans disagreed so sharply about what they want from their public schools. School board meetings across the country have become battlegrounds over a broad range of issues: health policies, whether schools are indoctrinating or educating, how race and racism should be taught, how current events and controversial topics should be discussed. In the absence of civil discourse, parents, board members, educators, and community members are struggling to work through their differences. Relationships are becoming frayed, disputes aren't getting resolved, and the critically important, day-to-day tasks of running schools is taking a back seat as the battles rage on. We are promoting Courageous Conversations about... Show full description


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The central questions guiding this podcast episode are this: What role should schools play regarding policies, instruction, and classroom discussio...

  • Added: Jun 23, 2022
  • Length: 49:59