Ask any teacher about teaching about a controversial topic, and most will tell you to avoid it at any cost.

Now is the time to teach students how to deal with controversial subjects and how to cope with a plurality of ideas and identities

School administrators hate controversy and will often discourage teachers from discussing hot topics in their classrooms at all. Teachers routinely get fired or reprimanded for opening discussion in their classroom about ideas that some may take issue with. Teaching subjects like art, literature, theater, and even history and science, can be fraught with difficulty, as teachers navigate minefields of potentially offensive ideas and images. And since today’s teachers often have less protection than teachers in the past, allowing controversy into...

Ask any teacher about teaching about a controversial topic, and most will tell you to avoid it at any cost.

Now is the time to teach students how to deal with controversial subjects and how to cope with a plurality of ideas and identities

School administrators hate controversy and will often discourage teachers from discussing hot topics in their classrooms at all. Teachers routinely get fired or reprimanded for opening discussion in their classroom about ideas that some may take issue with. Teaching subjects like art, literature, theater, and even history and science, can be fraught with difficulty, as teachers navigate minefields of potentially offensive ideas and images. And since today’s teachers often have less protection than teachers in the past, allowing controversy into the classroom can come with truly nightmarish consequences...