Teaching Tolerance in Public and Private Schools

Abstract

The authors describe their research findings, which suggest that private schools currently do a slightly better job than public schools of encouraging interethnic friendships and developing support for democratic norms, and they discuss some implications.

Private Religious Protestant and Catholic Schools in the United States and Canada: Introduction, Overview, and Policy Implications

“…The findings may also contribute to debates about whether private schools play an important role in serving public ends, such as a more educated citizenry or the nurturing of civic virtues (Glenn, 2000;Godwin, Ausbrooks, & Martinez, 2001;Godwin et al, 2004;McCloskey, 2008;Vryhof 2004;Wolf 2007). Evangelical Protestant school organization and student experiences point to the importance of relational goals in evangelical Protestant schools, which may have indirect positive implications for civic life (Sikkink, 2009).…”

‘I have Just Understood it from the Story …’: using vignettes in educational research to investigate cultural tolerance

“…The decision to use vignettes was based on the purpose of the study as some researchers (e.g. Gibson and Bingham 1982;Godwin, Ausbrooks, and Martinez 2001;Hurwitz and Mondak 2002) stress the difficulty in measuring tolerance using a questionnaire. On the other hand, Doorn (2014) highlights the benefits of using vignettes in measuring tolerance.…”

“…These measures seem to suggest a strong connection between civil liberties and political tolerance; a hypothesis which is weakened by Gibson's (2013) study which concludes that there is a weak relationship between political tolerance and support for civil liberties. Additionally, scholars, such as Gibson and Bingham (1982), point to difficulties in measuring the concept of tolerance by using scales and questionnaires, as the findings about tolerance are sensitive to both the measures and the measurement strategy employed (Hurwitz and Mondak 2002); and there is the possibility of a huge gap between paper-and-pencil measures of tolerance and the actual behaviour expected of democratic citizens (Godwin, Ausbrooks, and Martinez 2001). Doorn (2014) stresses the need for a measure that takes into account the object of tolerance and the conditions under which the intolerable can be tolerated, and suggests using vignettes to increase the reliability of the tolerance measure.…”

Searching for Ways of Improving Teenagers’ Tolerance: Determination by Multiethnic Environment

“…This study draws on theories of modern educationalists concerning the special role of education and educational institutions in distributing tolerance in society (Zinov'yev, 2001;Godwin, Ausbrooks & Martinez, 2001;McKinnon & Castiglione, 2003;Zagorulya, 2003;Wan, 2006;Sardoč, 2010). We follow the tolerance structure of the philosopher, Glebkin (2000), who presented four components: cognitive, emotional and evaluative, axiological, and activity-based.…”