The Paradox of Partisanship

Abstract

At least three classes of reasons – (1) the obligations of public servants in general to represent a diverse public; (2) the obligations of teachers in particular to educate rather than indoctrinate; and (3) teachers’ duties not to abuse their power over parents and students – support the claim that public school teachers should not take partisan stands in the classroom in ways that discourage students from considering or adopting alternative reasonable perspectives. At the same time, however, teachers are rightly expected to teach moral and civic norms that are broadly shared across ideological and political lines – especially those that serve as the foundation for shared civic life. The bright line between non-directive teaching on partisan issues and directive teaching of foundational civic principles and values dims, however, when the meaning and expression of these latter norms themselves are contested along partisan lines. The line breaks down even further when these norms are subject to fast shifts in interpretation by one ideological, geographic, or generational community while remaining fixed elsewhere. As teachers navigate both how (and whether) to teach fundamental civic values such as democratic constitutionalism and civic equality, and how (and whether) to respond to fast norm-shifting around these beliefs, they will inevitably find themselves taking partisan stands. We conclude that teachers cannot avoid taking partisan stands in the classroom precisely because there is no truly non-partisan standard for setting boundaries around what should count as a reasonable.