The past decade has seen significant changes in our country's political landscape, some of which have spilled over into higher education. One change that has impacted millions of students is recent legislation in many states (such as Florida, Texas, Utah, Alabama, and North Dakota) and from the federal government intended to inhibit diversity,…

Scholars have analyzed debates about controversial faculty speech inside and outside of the classroom, but none have paid close attention to the facet of academic freedom related to professors' decisions about daily teaching methods. This omission, along with obstacles to enacting pedagogical norms, has caused the scholarly community to overlook…

Some state legislatures have introduced a rash of bills designed to control how K-12 teachers discuss so-called 'divisive issues,' such as racism, sexism, and privilege. This legislation has prompted substantial news coverage on the impact of these laws. Sidelined in this discourse are the perspectives of teachers. This mixed methods study seeks…

While the teaching of controversial issues has generally been supported by schools and education scholars, new laws and public outcry have impacted whether and how controversial issues are taught. Calls to ban or limit teaching of controversial issues have largely been spurred by conservative parents, policymakers, and political groups. Some…

In this paper, the author argues that a professor's academic freedom should be limited when choosing teaching methods. Currently, many professors choose teaching methods without serious consideration of whether such methods are effective at achieving the course's learning outcomes. As a matter of professional responsibility, however, professors…

This paper suggests that the phenomenon of 'cancel culture' has significant pedagogical implications for teacher education. In particular, the analysis problematises the phenomenon of cancel culture, focusing on how issues relating to race, racism and structural injustice are framed in social media. It is argued that for teacher education programs…

Risk-taking in honors education entails not only anxiety about grades and intellectually disturbing ideas but also painful emotional responses to course materials. Rather than censoring such "dangerous" materials, faculty should compassionately encourage vulnerable students to acknowledge their pain safely in an open and accepting…

What are controversial issues? Who decides whether something is controversial, and how does it affect how a subject is taught whether a topic is presented as either controversial or not so? Although there has long been a lively debate within educational research on what criteria should be used to determine whether or not an issue is controversial,…

Quebec's Ethics and Religious Culture program (ERC) requires teachers to adopt a professional stance of pedagogical impartiality. This article examines the complex regulatory framework surrounding the impartiality requirement from the perspectives of teachers' legally recognized right to professional autonomy, their constitutional rights to…

In this study, academic freedom was defined by 17 foreign-born professors: 12 Arab-born and five non-Arab professors from nine different higher education institutions, as the ability to express different ideas, research any topic, and publish the results without fear of intimidation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine how…

In Vietnam, academic freedom is not guaranteed. This is especially so in relation to politically sensitive subjects such as human rights. This paper discusses how human rights education (HRE) can develop in such contexts. The Government of Vietnam is a signatory to various UN treaties and, consistent with its obligations, has encouraged the…

Evolution, due to its importance in science, holds a prominent place in national science standards and many state standards. Scientists nearly universally agree that the theory of evolution best explains the unity and diversity of life. Accordingly, numerous science, science education, and religious organizations support the teaching of evolution…

Discussions surrounding ideology and free speech on college and university campuses continually occur in the popular press. In this forum, Herbeck (see EJ1171161) chronicles several heated clashes over free speech that have recently erupted on campuses across the country, fueling news stories reported through traditional and social media. Issues…

Whereas hate is defined as extreme negative feelings for others because of some aspect of their identity (Perry, 2001; Waltman & Haas, 2011), hate speech is discourse devoted to the vilification of the other's identity (Waltman, 2015; Waltman & Mattheis, 2017). It is an attempt to vandalize the other's identity to such an extent that the…

Preemptive censorship occurs when educators avoid particular books because they dislike the ideas or values the books contain or fear the controversy the books may evoke. Although not as blatant as other forms of censorship, preemptive censorship has the unfortunate consequence of restricting children's access to ideas and information. Moreover,…