For Educators Wanting to Do the Decent Thing in a World Careening Against Such

Specific Responses Educators Can Make

There are dozens of organizations, websites, and newspapers keeping detailed tallies of current affronts to democracy, education, professionals, and basic decency. For more than a decade, we’ve awakened each morning with a sense of dread as we power up our phones to read newsfeeds and overnight commentary for fear of another sharp stroke in the collective, “death of a thousand cuts.” Regularly, we see or experience cruel accusations, actions, and policy-reforms against teachers, diverse students, librarians, researchers, public schools, science, Civil Rights, vaccines, anti-racism efforts, tolerance, LGBTQA communities, immigrants, housing programs, Title/grant monies, impoverished families -- and our local and national efforts with each of them.

Such attacks, ignorant punditry, and proposed policy changes in the prior decade would not have been given oxygen as they were clearly inaccurate, extreme, and harmful, the stuff of villains in dystopian worlds. Today, though, the ceaseless tide of attacks and undermining efforts are an emboldened and terrifying normal. Many of our schools, districts, and education organizations are censoring words, content, curriculum, instructional practices, and yes, individuals, that do not conform to this forced re-alignment, with some choosing pre-emptive compliance so as not to invoke the scrutiny of punishing guardians of the current status quo. These schools and organizations have to survive the day, of course, but we know that such changes in policies and practices, and such intrusions into our professional work and support communities, once considered unconscionable, are not only inhumane, they undermine effective instruction, student achievement, and democratic ideals.

It’s enough to make teachers and their leaders want to leave the profession. And they have. In many schools across our nation, we don’t have enough qualified educators to fill the empty positions in schools. It’s not because they aren’t available, however: Given an overwhelming, sometimes violent, anti-educator stress and vitriol and the compounding edicts to limit teacher autonomy and creativity and to conform to the current administration’s anti-diversity/equity/inclusion policies, would-be educators choose other fields.

It’s not just in the United States, either. Here’s a recent post regarding schools in England that parallels what’s happening here:

“The increasing pressure for teachers to obey school curriculum policies is “profoundly demotivating” and is leading directly to people leaving the profession, a new study warns. Teachers value being able to be creative and collaborate with each other to design lessons but are increasingly subject to school policies requiring their conformity. The research shows this is also reducing …Removing the space for teachers to act as professionals and make their own judgments reduces teachers’ autonomy, does not respect or acknowledge their competence and is likely to lead to poorer relationships with students as material is not adapted for them…Reducing teachers’ autonomy deskills the profession.” – Wong, Victoria, “Creativity, collaboration and conformity: Curriculum making and teacher motivation, The Curriculum Journal (2025), as summarized by Andrew Zinin, University of Exeter, for Phys.org, October 11, 2025

On top of this, some schools of teacher education are under fabricated suspicion, and in that, struggling for funding, professors, legitimacy, and candidates for their programs, which once again, diminishes teacher supply and high quality training.

Amidst all that’s being imposed on those of us working with today’s teaching realities and political turmoil, how do we face our students, communities, and profession with integrity and hope? How do we build and maintain expert knowledge and practices and use them effectively with our students without fear of reprisal? How do we assure our students that they can learn, will be treated equitably, will have the tools and courage to do what’s right, and will be able to connect with others and contribute positively to the larger world? And how do we do all of this without losing ourselves along the way?

It gets existential quickly, but there are specific, actionable choices we can make to maintain integrity, decency, and our professional selves. Let’s take a look.

Do One Thing.

As conscientious, supportive individuals, we want to confront injustices, avoid complacency, reclaim common sense and decency, and alleviate the pain, anger, and sorrow of so many who are negatively affected by cruel and unnecessary policies and public vitriol. Each day, however, brings new escalations and challenges that need thoughtful attention in ceaseless whack-a-mole urgencies scattering our already fragile energy and focus. It’s disorienting, especially as we also have our own lives, jobs, and those of our families and friends with which to engage. In this swirl, we can become anxious, depressed, and for some, so deeply unsettled we turn to unhealthy ways to cope with the rising despair.

Historian and author, Timothy Snyder, reminds us that we can’t do everything, but we can do something (January 19, 2026, YouTube.com). When we focus on doing just one thing amidst the larger efforts of so many, we find a way forward personally. It’s a tangible and positive progression amidst exhausting chaos; we make a difference. In this, we don’t feel quite so helpless.

Take a moment and choose one dedicated response to something in the current political, societal, or cultural climate that weighs upon you deeply, and give it heightened focus for the next few months. Let’s this be your sole commitment, and while the other concerns are still there and acknowledged, this one thing gets your personal energy. What might it be? Consider:

· Focus on building and maintaining a positive classroom culture where students feel seen, safe, and valued. This can be the island of sanity and belonging students need in their day in order to survive the upsetting forces outside the room.

· If a community organization, church, mosque, or synagogue does week-long trips to different regions of your state or other states to rebuild homes or care for the injured after natural disasters, join one or more of them, even if it means taking the time off from teaching.

· Become a regular driver on holidays and vacations for Meals on Wheels, delivering hot meals to the elderly and infirmed.

· Volunteer to be a reader for residents in senior housing centers

· Establish or volunteer at a Literacy Corner at a local Shelter for the unhoused in your community.

· Write a series of letters as an informed professional educator to local legislators about different issues affecting schools and student learning and be sure to suggest positive actions and resolutions.

· Take language classes and learn to speak the language of your students or community.

· Focus on one creative outlet for yourself, as the pressure to conform with troubling policies can erode identity and energy. For your soul’s sake, it might be time to learn to play that new instrument, take acting or art classes, start a Substack page, paint, sculpt, sew, craft, start wood-working or your own YouTube channel, learn to play RPG’s (Role Playing Games) or the card game, Bridge, or take classes unrelated to your curriculum at local universities or museums.

· If there’s a local shop, restaurant, museum, theater, or park that is closing due to lack of funding or anti-DEIA efforts, take steps to find grants and funding needed to keep it open. Rally the community’s energy around the positives of keeping the location open to all.

· On weekends and holidays, drive elderly or recovering patients to and from their doctor’s appointments and shopping errands. There are many official programs that facilitate these connections.

· Teach music and/or provide instrument lessons to children and adults who cannot afford such lessons or instruments for free on the weekends, or if you can’t, find ways to support those who can provide such.

· Pack and deliver sandwiches, water, and healthy snacks for immigrants and their families standing outside detention centers for weeks on end waiting for loved ones to be processed and released.

· Connect impoverished and struggling individuals/families with legal aid groups that can give them guidance and advocacy.

· Make a focused effort to identify and confront negative or gaslit stereotypes in work and your community. Point out media images to colleagues and students that show only women in passive situations while only men are portrayed as active. Ask why that newscaster says it was a Muslim terrorist, when we don’t indicate the religious affiliation of any other criminal (“The Presbyterian stock trader was indicted today…”). When someone dismisses an idea merely because it comes from a political party other than their own, ask them to be specific about their concerns about the idea, not the party proposing it. When someone ends a diatribe about a particular group of people with, “and you know what those people are like,” look them in the eye and tell them, no, you don’t know what they are all like, and you’d appreciate a fair and non-bigoted opinion next time.

Fight Civil Distortions: Curb the Creep of Numbing Indifference

Not sure of the origin (Maybe Orwell?), but at many protests lately we see the message, “When cruelty becomes normal, compassion seems radical.” This aphorism gives one pause the first time we see it and consider its truth. We can’t let it fade to background noise, however, upon subsequent readings. Speaker and author, Joseph Mauricio, writes,

“As violence in our culture becomes increasingly normalized, we naturally begin to grow desensitized. This is, in some ways, a psychological adaptation—our minds regulating themselves in order to survive the constant barrage of suffering and threat. But this normalization shifts our internal baselines: what was once unthinkable becomes merely uncomfortable… and then, quietly, becomes acceptable.” - The Outrageous Actions of Compassion: When Cruelty Becomes the Norm,” June 16, 2025

Acts of kindness and compassion are a call to our better selves, to remind us of what we can be, and what lasts in the long run. We can’t lose sight of them through the fog of sustained inhumanity. Make the effort to keep them from slipping into mere nostalgia. Remind those around you that violating Constitutional rights and advancing extremist sentiments, intolerance, racism, Muslim-phobia, and anti-LGBTQA policies aren’t normal, and for some, not lawful.

To set an example, gain confidence, and make this a bit more concrete for ourselves and those who are watching us, practice what to do in the stressful moments of a real and threatening public challenges or confrontations from an extremist or intolerant provocation. The five D’s of being an active bystander are highly recommended: Distract, Delegate, Delay, Direct, and Document. Each one is explained here: https://righttobe.org/guides/bystander-intervention-training/.

Dive Deeply into Resonant Statements

There are many declarations like those above that become almost cliché after frequent use, but they are used so much because they resonate in truth. Take a moment with these next four, commonly referenced, James Baldwin observations, and let them move you to a place deeper than mere superficial response:

“I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” ― Notes of a Native Son (In the “Autobiographical Note” section)

“Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” — Notes of a Native Son

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” — Baldwin, LIFE magazine, 1963

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — No Name in the Street

Now, after their consideration, memorize them: Keep them in your intellectual back pocket, ready to pull out and light the path forward while in difficult conversations or making important decisions; give them breath. Seriously, just saying them aloud to a colleague, family member, friend, or neighbor during a discussion or debate builds momentum that empowers conviction; they are a positive fuel when energy flags.

Now, how about doing the same with some of these statements below, again, not to perpetuate tired memes, but to energize conviction and avoid complacency?

“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.” - Elie Wiesel, from his speech upon being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, December 10, 1986

“The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world.” - Paul Farmer (physician, activist, humanitarian, and teacher)

“[I]n long intervals I have expressed an opinion on public issues whenever they appeared to me so bad and unfortunate that silence would have made me feel guilty of complicity.” – Albert Einstein

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” – Maya Angelou

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” – Robert F. Kennedy, University of Cape Town, 1966

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” —Mark Twain

Pull the Camera Lens Back and Ask the Larger Questions of What We Do

Asking the larger questions of our education work helps us see how specific ideas and practices fit in the larger context of our enterprise, and in this, we find energy and purpose. Stepping away from myopic focus on individual practices in isolation (we often get lost amongst the trees, never seeing the forest) provides clarity and connection for us, which refreshes the initial justifications for present efforts. On a semi-regular basis and with one another, ask the bigger questions of our profession:

Why do we teach everyone, not just the easy ones? Is what we’re doing fair and developmentally appropriate? What is the role of schooling in a democracy? How are our current structures limiting us? Whose voice is not heard in our deliberations? Are we mired in complacency? Are we open to others’ points of view – why or why not? How does our approach reflect what we know about students at this age? Why do we grade students? To what extent do we allow state, provincial, country, or international exams to influence our classroom practices? Do our current approaches align with what we know about how the mind learns? Why do we communicate with parents? How does assessment inform our practice? How can we counter the negative impact of poverty on our students’ learning? What role does practice play in mastery? Does our report card express what we’re doing in the classroom? How are modern classrooms different from classrooms thirty years ago? Where will our practices look like 15 years from now?

These aren’t lofty questions the responses to which have no immediate application to tomorrow’s lesson plans. Our candid wrestling with these questions is daily presence of mission. It creates the constructive perspective needed to make wise choices for student learning in individual classroom moments. Without the long view from our responses to these questions, we tend to misperceive or dismiss small but important elements in our teaching and leadership. When things go off the rails, then, we become confused or we deflect about the cause, and in that, lose ourselves. These aren’t the questions saved only for a mid-summer leadership retreats; these are the daily questions of fired up professionals.

Confront Real and Fabricated Animosities Toward Being Woke and Being Against Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access (DEIA)

Let us not falter here. I know it’s hard to do it week after week, but let’s not concede to the gaslighting. “Woke” is not a disparagement, pejorative description, or acceptable parody. Originally, it came from political activist Marcus Garvey as well as the Negro Mine Workers who, “…in 1940 issued the statement, ‘We were asleep. But we will stay woke from now on,’ in advocating against discriminatory pay,” (naacp.org/resources). There are other origin stories for this phrase, but this will suffice for our purposes here. Through the decades since then, it has become a call to two specific actions.

In the first, we take steps to become and remain attentive to oppression and racist acts and policies, personal and institutional, and to injustices against anyone, particularly injustice coded by law and empowered by one group over another. In recent decades, we’ve broadened this to include awareness of any persecuted sub-group, including women, those with disabilities, the poor, refugees, veterans, the unfairly incarcerated, immigrants, members of the LGBTQA+ community, and many different religious groups.

In the second, being woke calls us to purposefully dismantle that oppression and injustice, seeking immediate and permanent remedy against racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, sexism, anti-immigration, anti-refugees, disablism, and similar in both our personal lives and our institutions. Candidly, why would any citizen, let alone anyone in leadership, education, or a democracy, be against these two actions or make fun of them?

Some organizations, pundits, and government officials are shredding every tendril of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access (DEIA) they can find, particularly in our schools. A few months ago, a close and influential member of the current Federal government publicly declared that, “DEI is just another word for Racism,” which is not only inaccurate, it falsely shames unaware citizens into accepting the declaration without scrutiny. If your first reaction about DEIA efforts is to think about racial hires for company diversity programs, you don’t understand DEIA efforts.

Consider whom DEIA efforts really support, then just as quickly realize that every one of us has been the positive recipient of these supports and policies, or we have direct friends, family members, or colleagues who have received those supports, and justifiably so. Those who benefit from diversity, equity, inclusion, and access efforts are darn close to all of us. So, we have to ask: “Really? This is the way we want to live right now? This is the positive legacy we give our children and grandchildren?”

And get this: The group that most benefits from diversity, equity, inclusion, and access efforts according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics is white women. (https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/08/us/dei-programs-diversity-list) Both the Bureau and The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNS11300029) have compelling figures on the participation of women in the labor force, and they break it down according to race as well.

Be very clear: Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access measures battle inequities, improve workplace safety, increase innovation, improve employee retention/performance, and they provide vitally needed support and care for any group that has been historically marginalized, persecuted, or unfairly treated. Yes, this means DEIA efforts have direct and immediate benefit to following people: veterans, any ethnic minority such as blacks, Native Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Koreans, Afghans, South Asians, as well as families seeking IVF and other fertility assistance, those in long-term healthcare, the elderly, the poor, refugees, immigrants, Christians, non-Christians, members of the LGBTQA+ communities, and individuals with disabilities. In its essence and effect, DEIA measures are among the most patriotic, compassionate, and democratic things we do as a nation and in our communities. It’s an irrational thing to rail against our own identity and humanity. Let’s summon the stamina to educate ourselves and others and to help each other reclaim “woke,” “equity,” “diversity,” “inclusion,” and, “access,” as the vital and urgently needed constructs they are.

Resist Discriminatory or Racist Policies in Smaller but No Less Significant Ways.

As you feel comfortable, refer to differentiated instruction as, “responsive teaching,” because that’s what it’s really about, but this term doesn’t come with heated political blowback. Monitor your interactions with students to make sure you are not invoking micro-aggressions or any hidden bias against any one culture, religion, readiness level, gender, political party, or sexual orientation. Get to know students and their cultures well, and as often as you can, work real examples from their realities and culture into your lessons. When tiering or adjusting instruction for those that need it, go ahead and do it, and if called on it, explain that you were making a dedicated effort to ensure each and every student actually learns the material, not just the easy ones. Do a media audit of your classroom, presentations, and classroom texts to make sure there is solid representation of everyone in the room. And yes, relate current events and community activities to your class that promote democracy, compassion, tolerance, and diversity, and publicly or privately affirm students’ behavior that promote these same virtues.

Actively Encourage Student Expression through Fine and Performing Arts

Encourage students to express compassion, tolerance, dignity of others, and their own take on local and national events in their lives through fine and performing arts. The integration here among course content, maturing lives, and healthy expression as they sort their thinking about the world in the presence of supportive adults is key. Through artistic media, students have tools, techniques, engagement, and relatively safe places to:

· honor their own narratives and those of others,

· capture compassionate moments in humanity

· declare how it feels to be their age in this moment

· express outrage in healthy, non-violent ways

· express gratitude

· share how students feel when witnessing adult hypocrisy, greed, or intolerance

· push against elements and policies that would diminish others

· respect historical, scientific, mathematical, musical, and literary contributions to civilization

· express the hope they feel for their communities, nation, and future.

This isn’t about our own comfort and discomfort with the arts. Original compositions, digital artwork, song-writing, story-telling, dance, hip-hop, poetry, sketching, puppetry, collage, sculpture, painting, Instagram (and similar), watercolor, batik, photography, one-act plays, theatrical drama, film, and music matter deeply to middle and high school students. A huge part of growing up successfully – and navigating a stressful world – is about mattering in the larger scheme of things, including mattering to others. This is something we can incorporate into our non-art classes as well, so look for those opportunities.

Model Compassionate Behavior

Perhaps the best way to teach compassion is simply to demonstrate it in daily life. Children model their behavior on what they see their caregivers doing, and you have opportunities to demonstrate compassion to your young child every day. By the way, our colleagues respond similarly: They see what we do and model it as well. So, as often as we can, let’s be sure to:

· Pick up trash even though it’s not our own.

· Help a lost dog find its owner.

· Embrace a colleague who’s been trying a new teaching idea and it’s bombing with her students - Be a thought partner on the effort to improve things.

· Help re-stock food banks.

· Mow the lawn and do housework for the elderly couple next door.

· Make meals for the family down the road dealing with severe illness.

· Read to those who can no longer read for themselves.

· Find a secret donor to provide payment for car/truck repairs for a colleague who doesn’t have the money for those repairs.

· Stop for a moment, and be a listening, non-judgmental “ear” for someone who needs such a person, even though you have a dozen other things you need to get done.

· If financially able, donate a used car to an impoverished family rather than selling it for cash or trade-in value.

· Wash someone else’s dishes, and do it repeatedly.

· Help single parent families by volunteering to take children to their afterschool, evening, and weekend activities when needed.

· Clean the bathroom no one else cleans.

· With someone who is struggling emotionally, share a moment when you sought mental health counseling with a challenge you were facing and how it helped you.

· Write letters of encouragement for hospitals to place on food trays.

· Sit with an elderly or infirmed person and help them with their taxes or monthly budget.

· Help a person clean up messes they’ve made.

· Volunteer in charitable organizations.

· Offer to carry someone’s groceries to their car.

· Shovel the snow off someone’s driveway; rake the leaves in their yard for them.

· Buy the food or drink for someone behind you in a drive-up window.

· Become CPR certified.

Focus on Helping Students (and Faculty) Work Constructively with Those with Whom They Disagree

Division and polarization are severe right now. Most students and many of our colleagues have little to no training or experience in how to work with those who disagree with us. They see positive relationships with the perceived “opposition” as weakness. One thing we can do is actively train students and faculty in the art of disagreeing constructively and how to move forward with those with whom we disagree so strongly. There are wonderful resources you can find online and at professional conferences for this, but to get started, I strongly suggest visits to the National Speech and Debate Association (https://www.speechanddebate.org/), the National Close Up Foundation (www.closeup.org) as well as the “Learning for Justice” resources (learningforjustice.org) at the Southern Poverty Law Center, search on, “Civil Discourse,” and two of Matthew Kay’s highly recommended books on class discussions: Not Light, but Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom, Routledge, 2018, and, We’re Gonna Keep On Talking: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Elementary Classroom, co-written with Jennifer Orr, Routledge, 2023.

Become Familiar with the Court Cases that Affect Us and our Students

In 1975 Texas, they passed a law denying enrollment in their public schools to anyone not legally admitted to the country, and to withhold state funds for the education of such children. In Plyler v. Doe 457 U.S. 202 (1982), the Supreme Court took up the case, and their question was, “Whether denying undocumented children of illegal immigrants the right to attend public school constitutes discrimination based on alienage that violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?” They’re ruling: Yes, it does, and the Texas law was unconstitutional. Justice Brennan, in writing for the majority, said,

“[E]ducation has a fundamental role in maintaining the fabric of our society” and “provides the basic tools by which individuals might lead economically productive lives to the benefit of us all.” Further…the children of such illegal entrants “can affect neither their parents’ conduct nor their own status,” and “legislation directing the onus of a parent’s misconduct against his children does not comport with fundamental conceptions of justice.” - https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/access-education-rule-law

“A 1982 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Plyler v. Doe, guarantees all students, regardless of immigration status, the right to a free public education in K-12 schools. But last year the conservative Heritage Foundation called for the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling and for states to charge tuition to immigrant families, even if their children are U.S. citizens. The rationale is that schools spend billions of dollars educating those students — money that instead should be spent on students who, along with their parents, are native-born U.S. citizens. Project 2025, also published by the Heritage Foundation, echoes that vision: ”This would have tremendous negative impacts,” said Megan Hopkins, chair of the education department at UC San Diego. “For starters, we’d have a less educated, less literate populace, which would affect the economy and nearly every other aspect of life in California.” - Carolyn Jones, “Students without legal status have the right to attend public school. Will Trump try to change that?,” August 7, 2025, CalMatters

For the full Supreme Court Decision and Deliberation on Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982), go to: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/457/202/

A quick look at some of our education laws demonstrates the direct impact of school law on our professional practices. Public education is a right protected in state Constitutions, not by the Federal government, which gets us into very complex waters when it comes to funding: Impoverished areas lack the property taxes and other funding sources to pay for local schooling, so should wealthier areas subsidize impoverished areas because the education of all citizens benefits the general state welfare? See San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1972) to start discussion on this.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) declared that, “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” and ordered the end of legally mandated, race-segregated schools. In 2007, when looking at affirmative action and competitive high schools in Seattle, Community Schools v. Seattle found that the denial of admission to a public school because of a student’s race in the interest of achieving racial diversity is unconstitutional. Lau v. Nichols (414 U. S. 563, 1974) found that, under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which bans educational discrimination on the basis of national origin, students with limited English proficiency have rights to equal treatment in schools, including, “linguistically appropriate accommodations.”

To find support and clarity and language, and to respond to injustices, it’s important for all educators to be up to speed on school law, particularly those cases and rulings that are coming into play in today’s political and cultural climate. The following is a list of important courts cases that directly affect daily classroom and school district practices and should be known and understood by today’s educators:

· Plyler v. Doe (1982)

· Mahmoud v. Taylor (2025)

· Kitzmiller v. Dover (2005)

· Edwards v. Aguillard (U.S. 1987)

· Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. (2021)

· Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond (2025)

· Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022)

· Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

· Engel v. Vitale (1962)

· Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006)

· Abington School District v. Schempp (1963)

· Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

· Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)

· San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez (1972)

· Tinker v. Des Moines (1969)

· New Jersey v. TLO (1985)

· United States v. Lopez (1995)

To get up to speed on school law that affects us daily, visit these sites:

- https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/educational-resources

- https://www.nsba.org/advocacy/school-law-issues

- https://education.findlaw.com/

- https://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/school_law/

- https://schoollaw.com/

- https://www2.ed.gov/policy/landing.jhtml?src=pn

Facilitate perspective taking.

Incorporate short stories, news articles, and novels in course content that ask readers to consider challenging situations from multiple perspectives, helping students develop a sense of empathy for others’ narratives, and emphasizing the positives that come from understanding another’s point of view. Ask students to form debate teams, but to debate from perspectives other than their own. Ask local individuals to come to class and share the history of your diverse community. Begin a service learning program for your students in which students participate and lead charitable projects for those in need.

Identify one of your educational, “touchstones,” and consider what they would say about one of your challenges right now to retain integrity and compassion. An educational touchstone is someone, alive or dead, such as a colleague, an author/presenter/researcher, a district or faith leader, or a family member who has earned such respect from you that you would seek their opinion when making complex decisions and take it to heart. Take a moment to describe why this person is such a professional touchstone for you, then, identify the pro’s and con’s of your thinking or response to the current challenge as if this respected individual was weighing them with you. Begin with, “What would [X] say about this?” and see where it takes you. Of course, each time you do this in the presence of a colleague or three, it improves the effect.

Get Training in Belonging and Mattering and Use those Suggestions to Engage Others.

It turns out that much of our current cultural, political, racial, and economic turmoil and divisiveness has its roots in our deeply ingrained need to belong to an identified community who accepts us as we are and to matter to those around us and in the larger scheme of things. Both teachers and students seek purpose and community, and studying these elements in our being reveals a number of positive and practical ways forward. Because so many of us lately are being told that we matter less than others, or that we don’t belong where we thought we did, there’s been a significant rise in the number of recent books and websites on belonging and mattering in the past few years. ‘Highly recommended among them are:

· “The Mattering Movement,” https://www.thematteringmovement.com/

· Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose by Jennifer Breheny Wallace, Portfolio/Penguin, 2026

· The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Liveright/W.W. Norton and Company, 2026

· Theo of Golden by Allen’s Levi, Atria Books, 2025

· Middle School: A Place to Belong and Become Perfect, by Laurie Baron and Patti Kinney, Association for Middle Level Education, 2017

· Belonging in School: Creating a Place Where Kids Want to Learn and Teachers Want to Stay ― An Illustrated Playbook, Revised and Updated Edition by by Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey, Corwin, 2026

Be Clear about Where You Stand

“While teachers should always be careful about overstepping boundaries, they should not avoid discussions about controversial political issues in the classroom. ‘Neutrality’ in the classroom is counterproductive if it prevents educators from correcting misinformation and calling out toxic, divisive and racist statements by political leaders.” - Tim Walker, “Teaching in an Era of Polarization,” NEA News, July 14, 2021

In the article above, Walker describes Advanced Placement teacher, Kelly Keogh, who had to explain to students that Nazis are bad people when then-President Donald Trump made the comment about neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Va. in August 2017 and declaring that there were, “some very fine people on both sides.” Walker writes, “The danger, as Keogh saw it, was the normalization of such rhetoric in our hyper-polarized political climate,” saying, “[T]he toxicity and misinformation polluting the political discourse requires him to take more of a stand in classroom discussions: ‘I struggled with it at first, but I began to take more of a stand. As an educator and presumably a role model, I couldn’t let this stuff go by without comment,’ he recalls.”

Let’s be clear that bullying, racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim rhetoric, misogyny, and removing basic rights from the LGBTQA community are acts of intolerance and incompatible with the loving, democratic community we aspire to be. We don’t need to broadcast our politics in each lesson, of course, but when asked in quiet moments, let’s provide a thoughtful response, modeling the critical thinking and compassion we ask of our students. Let’s seek the many books, videos, and educators who guide us wisely on how to respect civil discourse and help students deliberate difficult topics constructively in the classroom among diverse classmates; there are many resources for this. Amidst the confusion and real trauma of today’s overwhelming and sometimes, toxic, politics, the teacher’s response, “I remain neutral and have no opinion,” is harmful, and it doesn’t provide a robust example of how to be civil or how, “to adult.” Upon a misguided premise of not wanting to indoctrinate children, our students and members of our communities are being harassed, bullied, censored, fired, injured, deported, and killed. And, “No opinion,” is all we’ve got in response? Mauricio writes,

“How, then, do we respond? By showing up. By being sane, balanced, and clear—even when the world around us isn’t. Each moment of calm presence, each small act of compassion, offers sanity back to a world that desperately needs it.” - “The Outrageous Actions of Compassion: When Cruelty Becomes the Norm,” June 16, 2025

Effective educators are not indifferent, and we do not turn a blind eye or ineffectual hands to real challenges. As professional educators and members of own communities, we are required to demonstrate clear-eyed discernment and uphold integrity, ethics, compassion, and democracy. Students need thoughtful strategies and examples of how to determine accurate from inaccurate news, how to think critically and see the racism, misogyny, and more through the gaslighting, how to discuss challenging topics respectfully, and how to get along with one another, even when disagreeing strongly. Teachers who do not demonstrate this kind of mature example do a disservice, and students will seek instruction and modeling elsewhere.

Students are looking to us for useful ways to navigate social, cultural, and political divisions. We can be clear about where we stand without indoctrinating students or promoting political, cultural, or religious points of view to susceptible children. To remain silent in the face of affronts to decency and democracy is to be complicit in those effects, helping the oppressor and encouraging the tormentor, as Weisel writes, and undermining the very concepts we teach our students. Let’s be clear about where we stand.

It’s hard to retain our humanity in an inhumane world, especially as we try to explain the substance and potential of our world to young minds. Just as intolerance, cruelty, and injustice are not inevitable, so are their opposites not inevitable: Tolerance, compassion, and justice: We’ll have to fight for each one. Let’s not lose ourselves in the effort. Sure, we can take periodic breaks, but over the long haul and as a compelling example for our students, let’s take steps to build and maintain basic decency with one another and to help our students and their families do the same. And best of all for us educators? It turns out we’re not victims here, but instead, we’re protagonists, driving the human narrative forward. ‘Time to take the wheel.

Rick Wormeli is a long-time teacher, consultant and author living in Herndon, Virginia. His books include Fair Isn’t Always Equal: Second Edition, Differentiation: From Planning to Practice, and Summarization in any Subject: 60 Innovative, Tech-Infused Strategies for Deeper Student Learning, 2nd edition, co-authored with Dedra Stafford. He can be reached at rick@rickwormeli.onmicrosoft.com, @rickwormeli2 (X), and at www.rickwormeli.com.