Engaged or Obedient? Racially Differentiated Models of Democratic Education

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:48:15 +0000

Engaged or Obedient? Racially Differentiated Models of Democratic Education Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 14:48

By: Sarah Brown, Tamar Malloy

Abstract:

Some theorists and practitioners argue that public schools in liberal democracies should teach students to be engaged, participatory citizens. Others argue that schools function as disciplinary training grounds, producing docile workers and obedient members of society. How can we reconcile these normatively different views? In exploring this question, we analyze school documents from a national random sample of U.S. public charter schools, examining the terms schools use most frequently and how schools discuss normative conceptions of citizenship. Using text-as-data methods and qualitative analysis, we suggest that both models appear in U.S. schools, but are implemented largely along racialized lines, with majority White schools tending to emphasize democratic values and majority non-White schools emphasizing obedience.

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