Meira Levinson, Professor of Education, develops case studies about difficult questions in educational ethics—for example, grade inflation, charter schools, and policies that disproportionately impact low-income students of color—for A203 Educational Justice students to debate and discuss the ethical dimensions of educational practice and policy.
In addition to in-depth content analysis, case discussions illuminate different views among students who may have expected they were in like-minded company. According to Levinson, this is an important goal for instructors, as we tend to assume that others think the same as we do: “Students learn that is not true. We are socialized culturally to avoid difficult conversations—‘don’t talk about religion, sex, or politics at a dinner party’—and not often provided opportunities to substantively engage with one another."
Sometimes students fixate on topics with seemingly universal agreement—for example, the injustice of zero tolerance policies in schools—but Levinson pushes them to identify and discuss those questions that have a bit more ambiguity: “Can they stop focusing on how wrong it is and focus on the question of how a teacher can do best by a student in such an environment?” While no topic is off limits, the framing is what ensures meaningful discourse.
Using case studies to discuss ethical dilemmas is good practice for students in and out of the classroom: “Developing the skill, and ideally the disposition, to seek out alternative viewpoints on difficult issues and listen to them in an engaged and meaningful way, that is, itself, a really important goal.”
