The Call to Courage: Standing Up and Speaking Out Against the Assaults on Democracy, Educators, and Students in America’s Schools

Our nation is rocked by ideological divisions threatening both the work of educators and the core of our democracy. Individuals and groups are attacking public education and implementing policies antithetical to education in a democratic society. They seek to impose their own beliefs upon students and educational institutions by censoring materials, ideas, and practices they find objectionable. They promote intolerance through exclusionary and discriminatory policies and practices concerning persons of different racial, ethnic, religious, national origin, gender, or political identities. They advocate abandoning discussion of culture and identity--despite their importance to student success--to ensure that preferential consideration continues for the prevailing culture. And they close off open dialogue and scrutiny of factual evidence, instead imposing their own agendas. In doing so, they politicize education, bring partisanship into the classroom, promote indoctrination, and undermine education’s democratic goals.

At their best, public schools are an anathema to indoctrination and authoritarianism because they bring a wide range of perspectives into the classroom and teach students to think independently. A democratic and pluralistic society requires that individuals honor and respect differences in identities and beliefs, endorse the pursuit of truth through examination of factual evidence, and participate in open dialogue to resolve issues of difference. Education in a democratic society must support the development of these attitudes, skills, and values in young people. Yet our nation’s culture wars are being fomented by those who have a contradictory vision of American education.

The current times call on each of us to understand what is at risk and to summon the courage to stand up for the pursuit of justice, equity, and a meaningful democracy. But how do we develop and express that personal courage to support schools in promoting respect for diversity and inclusivity, enhancing children’s well-being and social-emotional development, affirming the goals of equitable access and opportunity for all, and providing students with the knowledge and skills to sustain and strengthen our democratic society? At the state and local levels, how do we change the culture of educational endeavors from divisive to collaborative?

This book is a clarion call to parents, educators, students, community members, and education leaders to take courageous action in response to the current threats. To support these individuals in bravely choosing to stand up and speak out, The Call to Courage shares the stories and strategies of others who are boldly and publicly embracing that very challenge.

Sheldon H. Berman, Ed.D., served as superintendent of four districts in three states--Hudson, MA; Jefferson County (Louisville), KY; Eugene, OR; and Andover, MA--spanning 28 school years. He provided leadership in state superintendent associations as well as in local and national education organizations. He served as Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents President and received the 2003 Massachusetts Superintendent of the Year Award and AASA’s Distinguished Service Award in 2022, in addition to lifetime achievement awards for social-emotional learning and character education. He has made nationally significant contributions by furthering social-emotional learning practice, expanding special education funding and enhancing inclusive instructional strategies, advocating and implementing school integration, contributing guidance on administrative ethics through a decade of School Administrator Ethical Educator columns, and launching state-of-the-art virtual learning and instructional innovations. He has authored numerous book chapters, articles, policy reports, and op-eds, and has presented nationally and internationally on educational issues and innovations. He is the author of three books--Implementing social-emotional learning: Insights from districts’ successes and setbacks (2023), The Ethical Educator: Pointers and Pitfalls for School Administrators (2022, with Joyce A. Barnes and David B. Rubin), and Children’s Social Consciousness and the Development of Social Responsibility (1997)--and the co-editor of Promising Practices in Teaching Social Responsibility (1993, with Phyllis LaFarge). Retired as a district superintendent, he is currently the AASA Lead Superintendent for Social-Emotional Learning and serves as a Professor of Practice at the University of Oregon, College of Education.

Luvelle Brown, Ed.D., is superintendent of the Ithaca City School District in Ithaca, NY. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member at SUNY Cortland and St. John Fisher College, both in New York. His recent work has been recognized through the 2022 AASA Humanitarian Award and the 2020 New York State Council of School Superintendents Appreciation Award. Other major accomplishments include being selected in 2017 as the New York State Superintendent of the Year and in 2021 to a seat on Learning 2025: National Commission on Student-Centered, Equity-Focused Education. A sought-after speaker for regional and national conferences, he was invited to be a featured speaker at President Barack Obama’s National Superintendents Summit at the White House in 2014. Active in professional organizations, he has served on the New York State Council of School Superintendents Executive Committee, the AASA Digital Consortium, the Center for Digital Education Advisory Council, and CoSN’s Empowered Superintendent Advisory Panel. A prolific contributor to education journals and blogs, he is the author of the acclaimed 2018 book Culture of Love: Cultivating a Positive and Transformational Organizational Culture. His community involvement is reflected in his 2018 appointment to the Ithaca College Board of Trustees, his recognition as the 2019 Tompkins County (NY) Distinguished Citizen, and his role as co-founder of 100 Black Men of Central Virginia.