What American schools can learn from other countries about civic disagreement

  Few areas of American life have experienced more conflict of late than public education. The conflict has largely revolved around how public schools should deal with the difficult subjects of race and racism. The situation has become so inflamed that a national school board group asked the federal government to step in and protect school officials and educators from what they said were a growing number of attacks from angry citizens.

Charles C. Haynes: Islam, public schools, and the challenge of teaching about religions

  In recent weeks, fights have erupted in Georgia and Tennessee over how Islam is taught in public schools.

  Charges of “Islamic indoctrination” are countered by charges of “anti-Muslim bigotry” as people shout past one another at school board meetings and in the media.

  Before this dispute becomes a full-blown culture war, my advice is for people on all sides to take a deep breath, sort out what’s actually going on in schools, and then consider how school officials can best respond.

Joseph O. Patton: Meanwhile, back in the middle…

  I’m deep in the bunker, y’all. It’s simply not safe to wander above ground these days, notably due to the bloodletting inherent to the “War on Christmas” and the Christian Taliban forcing everyone at gun point to celebrate Christmas their way. Between overzealous Christians seeking to use our government as a means of indoctrination to overzealous atheists ripping candy canes from our hands and sacrificing our inflatable snowmen on altars to the great atheist god, I’m hesitant to step into the light of day… though I do need to get the mail.