We examine school governance in populist era, using contemporary readings of pragmatist philosophy. We are in a "populist moment," a time of uprisings and movements of the "demos" making political claims (Mouffe, 2018). School officials in the U.S. are subject to an array of political demands in the form of protests and…

Drawing on theories of deliberative democracy, this article analyzes initiatives in educational settings to develop deliberative capabilities--defined here as a person's motivation and abilities to explain their views based on thoughtful considerations, reciprocal engagement, and more inclusive and respectful communication. Building and expanding…

One way in which democratic classrooms can reflect a democracy is by guaranteeing students some inalienable rights; Kalinec-Craig (2017) outlined Olga Torres's Rights of the Learner (Torres's RotL) in mathematics classrooms. However, democracies rely not only on citizens' rights, but on their willingness to take up certain responsibilities as…

The article by Collins, Hess, and Lowery (2019) explores struggles teachers faced in order to pursue Deweyan educational practices. This response proposes that even more is needed for a critical educational practice, called "strong democracy." Such an approach requires addressing and countering the White supremacist legacy of U.S.…

This essay examines conservative Christian schools through the lens of democratic education theory in order to understand how these educational institutions might or might not be consistent with the principles of a liberal democracy. I identify four key characteristics of conservative Christian schools, including the way they attempt to withdraw…

To what extent should the child's point of view be included when a political community endeavors to make just decisions, and why? Democrats are committed to a principle of political inclusion grounded in equal respect for persons. Yet we regularly deny children the right to vote and we often just assume that the citizens doing the hard work of…

In this essay, we consider how reconstructing our ideas about the nature of democracy, and its relationship to education, can help us respond to contemporary challenges. We focus specifically on the ongoing fights about critical race theory (CRT), providing an overview of the CRT controversy--we argue that its cultivation for political reasons has…

Discussion about political and social issues in school matter for a wide array of democratic skills and competences such as political engagement, participation, and knowledge. However, little research has been done on what impact characteristics of the discussion climate in classrooms can have on young people's engagement with political…

Frenkiewich and Onosko (2020) maintain that American public education has functioned as a pillar of democracy and a force for progress for most of the twentieth century, but they worry that a major turn to school privatization in recent years will undermine the democratic mission and vision of public schooling and harm society as well. The authors…

How can middle school mathematics teachers navigate their roles as authorities in managing classroom democracies while providing their students with opportunities to exercise their rights? The concept of complementarity (Vithal, 1999) acknowledges that a teacher's authority is not always in conflict with students' rights or agency, but instead a…

In this response to Martin's "Should Deliberate Democratic Inclusion Extend to Children?" I examine Martin's comments against the "argument from circumspection," which is dubious regarding the claims children make to change democratic policies and procedures. I explain there are good reasons for being circumspect. One of these…

Deliberative democracy surfaces disagreements so that people holding conflicting stances understand each other's reasons for the purpose of decision-making. Democratic education approaches should provide students with the opportunity to learn and practice how to address conflict in the collective decision-making process. In this paper, I examine…

This paper presents the emergent paradigm of the "commons" as an alternative value and action system in the field of education, and it critically draws out the implications of the commons for refiguring education and its potential contribution to democratic transformation. The paper delves into an independent pedagogical community,…

Speaking to the political and social upheaval of our present moment, and drawing on discourses of democratic education, we argue that the U.S.'s racial reckoning propelled by recent events constitutes a sort of "founding" for our democracy and that this founding has important implications for reconfiguring citizenship within institutions…

Stitzlein and West (2014) are primarily concerned with how Relay and Match risk failing to prepare their residents to practice democratic education. My aim is to provide a more thorough account of specific practices employed by Match and their no-excuses approach in order to illustrate and support points made by Stitzlein and West. It is my hope…