Teachers Are Afraid to Talk About the 2024 Election (Ep. 34)

Oct 27

Episode Notes

One would think that schools are the perfect place for students to learn about elections. What better opportunity to use the critical thinking skills they’ve learned in making sense of what the candidates are saying and to distinguish credible information from what they often encounter on social and mainstream media. These skills would certainly serve them well after the election when there are sure to be protests, claims, and counterclaims about election fraud and tampering.

However, many teachers said they wouldn’t be discussing the 2024 election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, according to a recent survey conducted by EdWeek. Many cited concerns about parent complaints, and others worried that students could not discuss the election respectfully.

My three guests—a college freshman, two university educators, and a communications director—lament that polarization and fear keep politics and healthy conflict out of the classroom. Each one suggests ways to turn this around, and they describe the benefits of doing so for all Americans.

What’s especially interesting about this conversation is that one would be hard-pressed to identify my guests’ party affiliations. You will, however, have to ignore the fact that two of them say early on that they are leaders of young Republican groups in Texas. From my vantage point, this is yet another sign that when we Americans explore their core values, we fundamentally want the same things from our schools.

Featured Guests:

Christopher F. Kulesza, Ph.D., is a scholar for the Child Health Policy Program at Baker Institute, where he carries out research in child and community health policy. His research investigates the health needs of K-12 students, with the goal of expanding access to health and social services. Chris teaches undergraduate and graduate seminars in public policy and American government at Rice University, Purdue University, Indiana University Indianapolis, and Pennsylvania State University. He is also serving on the Texas Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights, on the Houston Food Insecurity Board, and is the National Committeeman for the Texas Young Republicans Federation.

🎙️: Christopher Kulesza was also guest on Episode 17 of our podcast, Can Educators Prevent Racism in Schools? Diverse Perspectives, Lively Conversation.

Yordanos Lemma is a high school senior advocating for educational equity and civic engagement in the Greater Philadelphia area. As a first-generation Ethiopian American, Yordanos is passionate about helping traditionally overlooked students succeed. Through her involvement in Citizens University, Bezos Scholars, and Living Room Conversations, Yordanos has continued advocacy work. Alongside her passions, she plans to major in History and African-American Studies with a pre-law concentration.

🎙️: Yordanos Lemma was a guest on Episode 14 & Episode 17 of our podcast, The Latest Culture War Dustup: Balancing Parent Rights with Student Rights and Can Educators Prevent Racism in Schools? Diverse Perspectives, Lively Conversation.

Stephanie Shonekan is a professor of ethnomusicology and dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, with an academic career spanning Columbia College Chicago, the University of Missouri, and the University of Massachusetts. At Mizzou, she led efforts to promote diversity and inclusion by creating programs such as Citizenship@Mizzou for students, faculty, and staff, and The Huddle, a mentoring initiative for underrepresented faculty. She holds a PhD from Indiana University in ethnomusicology and folklore, blending her West African and West Indian heritage in her scholarship. Dr. Shonekan’s work focuses on the intersection of music, identity, history, and culture, with publications on topics like hip-hop, soul, afrobeat, and Fela Kuti, along with several books, including Soul, Country, and the USA and Black Lives Matter & Music. Additionally, she wrote and produced the award-winning short film Lioness of Lisabi about Fela Kuti’s mother.

Rafael Struve is a native Houstonian, having received his bachelor’s degree in international relations, affairs and political science from the University of St. Thomas, followed by a master’s degree in global affairs from Rice University.

Rafael has extensive political experience. He was the Communications Director for the Houston Young Republicans and now serves in the same capacity for the Texas Young Republicans.

Rafael previously worked as a Grassroots Field Associate for Americans for Prosperity and as a Regional Field Director for Texas Latino Conservatives, and currently serves as a Digital Communications Strategist for Winning Tuesday.

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Learn more

In Race and the American Story, Stephanie Shonekan and Adam Seagrave provide a unique window into race relations in contemporary America. Shonekan, a Black woman who grew up in Nigeria and Trinidad before emigrating to the US and Seagrave, a white man who grew up in California's Napa Valley, have entwined their life histories to shed light on how Americans experience race. This book explores the authors' insights into the personal and social effects of racism and contains both an open acknowledgment of the realities of racism and a hopeful approach to confronting it. Race and the American Story provides a historically sensitive, culturally informed, and refreshingly novel treatment of race in the US. Combining the power of storytelling with the authors' expertise as scholars of politics and culture, this book shows how two very different personal stories relate to the American story--a story that is in danger of disintegrating in the twenty-first century.

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