Volume 30, Issue 2, June 2007
Teaching in the New Climate of Conservatism
Ann Cudd
Pages 173-183
Revolution vs. Devolution in Kansas
Teaching in a Conservative Climate
This paper is about teaching progressive ideas where fundamentalist and conservative views are prominent among the students. I take up two questions: What should we take our task as feminist teachers to be? How should it be carried out? I explore three teaching strategies that a progressive teacher might use in a hostile conservative climate: the whole truth strategy, the dismissal strategy, and the bridge strategy. I reject the first two of these and argue that the third is most likely to be effective and also best exemplifies the value of academic freedom.