Educators, parents, students, policy makers, and concerned citizens have become deeply divided about how history, current events, and controversial issues should be discussed in our public schools. At the center of these debates are questions about race and racism – what exactly students should learn about these concepts, how the concepts should be taught, and what the outcomes should be. These and a few related questions guide our conversation.

Education board rooms across the country have recently become battlegrounds over mask and vaccine mandates, how history should be taught, and how race and racism should be studied. Amidst these contentious debates are concerns among some that too many educators are indoctrinating their students with partisan viewpoints. But what does it really mean to indoctrinate and is it always undesirable or undemocratic?