Pluralism and Education: exploring pluralism and societal depolarization

Date: 

Thursday, March 26, 2020, 1:00pm to 2:30pm

Location: 

Recording now Available

The recording of this event is now available on our Youtube Channel.

 

“Pluralism is not just having diverse people coexist in one place. It’s going out and getting into each other’s lives. It’s a constant dialogue that has no end because there is no single answer to how we should live.” - David Brooks (August 2019 NY Times Op-ed entitled “The Ideology of Hate and how to Fight it”) The concept of pluralism has profound implications for the structure of schools and the design of curricula. If there is no single answer to how we should live, then the question arises as to if/how the many different answers should be valued or affirmed in the context of education. Are there answers that fall outside the pluralistic spectrum? How can we define the scope and limits of that spectrum? These questions point to a need for a unifying philosophy that illuminates the ways in which the concept of pluralism can apply to particular contexts. The philosophy of pluralism embedded in the fabric of U.S. society, but its significance is often left vague. “E pluribus, unum”- “Out of many, one.” But, one what? I propose that we interpret "E pluribus, unum" as a call to respect the concept of pluralism within a united society, and the goal of this Brown Bag Lunch is to explore what pluralism entails.