We once imagined education was about teaching objective facts to the next generation. But in today’s polarised world, education has become a fierce political battleground. The left pushes post-colonial readings of history, critical race theory, and gender studies. On the right, Trump has threatened to remove billions in funding from top universities over their DEI programmes, including Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. PEN America calculated that since 2021, 22,810 books have been banned in US schools. More recently, in 2025, political commentator Charlie Kirk was assassinated while giving a speech at a university campus. What our children and young people learn, and how they learn it, has become the stage of international debate and controversy.
Was it a mistake to imagine education was or ever could be devoid of politics? Should schools aim to present students with a range of competing perspectives, encouraging them to think critically and draw their own conclusions? Or is the only solution to the current chaos to double down on providing a single objective and neutral account of history, science, and society?
Was it a mistake to imagine education was or ever could be devoid of politics? Should schools aim to present students with a range of competing perspectives, encouraging them to think critically and draw their own conclusions? Or is the only solution to the current chaos to double down on providing a single objective and neutral account of history, science, and society?
