Democratic Discord in Schools: Cases and Commentaries in Educational Ethics by Meira Levinson and Jacob Fay, eds., Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2019

American philosopher John Dewey warned a century ago that democracy should not be taken for granted but should instead be consciously reproduced by citizens. He argued that, as institutions for democracy, public schools should play a central role in this process. Also situated in democratic societies, however, public schools are inevitably affected by the social and political conditions that exist beyond their walls. Citizens of the deeply divided democratic societies of the present, for example, disagree about what particular civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions schools should teach and how they should be taught. As a result, these societies tend to de-emphasize civic education, leaving students ill-prepared for democratic citizenship and likely exacerbating problems of polarization and disengagement. Working with the public to develop constructive, democratic solutions to such problems is, therefore, an important project. Levinson and Fay’s recently published book, Democratic Discord in Schools, is a prime example of this type of scholarship and should be of interest to philosophers of education. The book uses cases and commentaries to illuminate and provoke discussion about democratic dilemmas in educational policy and practice. Each of the eight cases is followed by six commentaries written from the diverse perspectives of teachers, educational leaders and policy makers, scholars from a variety of disciplines, middle and high school students, community leaders, and other stakeholders in education. The cases are drawn from real scenarios in the United States, though commentators from Singapore, England, South Korea, the Netherlands, Mexico, Ireland, Germany, and Australia add international perspectives that should broaden the book’s appeal and increase its relevance to readers in other diverse democratic societies. The last chapter highlights the text’s major themes and provides recommendations for how it might be used in practice. The cases and commentaries explore themes of vulnerability and protection, examining issues “with which schools must contend, and/or that they risk perpetrating: harassment, bullying, racism, suicide, deportation, silencing, ignorance, marginalization, gang violence, segregation, civil liberties violations, arrest, suspension and expulsion, physical violence, emotional violence, job loss, and so on” (p. 275). Additionally, the contributors problematize educational policies and practices pertaining to the “regulation of teacher speech, policies around charter school design, school culture initiatives, … digital monitoring of students, … choices about curriculum, district partnerships with law enforcement, teacher preparation and support, and districtwide responses to student activism” (p. 272). Each case was written to be read on its own without preparation, is under six pages long (as are the commentaries), and can, therefore, be quickly read prior to or as a prompt for discussion. The book’s final chapter provides guidance and resources for educators and discussion facilitators. It includes a protocol to guide deliberations (p. 278), creative ideas for engaging with the cases and commentaries, and the link for a website that contains additional resources for facilitators (justiceinschools.org). Drawing from personal experience leading such deliberations, Levinson and Fay recommend that facilitators spend at least an hour discussing each case, but they also include suggestions for how to limit the scope of the discussion when time is limited. They recommend small breakout discussion groups of five to ten people with facilitators pausing the conversations periodically to highlight and share important insights across groups. To minimize unproductive conflict, the authors recommend that groups collectively establish discussion guidelines prior to engaging with one another about the cases. Additionally, the book provides multiple examples of pedagogical strategies and activities to guide discussions (e.g., “four corners,” “fishbowl,” “town hall,” philosophical seminar, visual and artistic representations of key tensions and choices at stake in a case, “found poems,” “readers’ theater,” etc.) (p. 279). Furthermore, they suggest that students might …