I enjoyed this article as it grapples with the question of how to close the discussion of political or controversial topics in a classroom. Two major schools of thought are presented: the idea of deliberative democracy, which aims to use rational debate to reach a consensus, and agonism, which allows that people may remain on different sides even after the discussion. The author appears to advocate a middle position, hegemony, which allows one side to win (if you will) while accepting that there will be another side that did not prevail on this day. A good object lesson for how to handle such debates as adults. There are good side-discussions on the role of rationality and identity in such discussions, and how to decide what points of view ought to be excluded from any such discussion. Image: an Interview with Chantal Mouffe.
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