In this article we present an articulation of how "invited spaces" can foster inclusive and authentic participation and public discourse on issues related to extremism and radicalization. Conversations on these issues that are of crucial importance to the general public are usually held in closed spaces or in spaces that are set up by…

This article explicates the ways that the popular television series "Sons of Anarchy" in conjunction with our content analysis coding tool can be used to teach theories and concepts central to Sociology of Deviance courses. We detail how students learned to understand deviance as a social constructed phenomenon by coding and analyzing…

Although the world is changing rapidly, young people's developmental trajectory has remained the same. Just as in the past, today's young adolescents with still-developing prefontal cortexes are malleable, impulsive, and impressionable. But Phyllis Fagell identifies three areas where today's tweens are different from those of the past. They are…

The dramatic increase in hate-related bullying and culturally and/or racially offensive comments or symbols in the wake of the 2016 election came as a surprise for many educators across the United States. Research points to both an increase in frequency of hate related speech and controversy in schools, and teachers reporting a lack of training,…

Ethical impotence occurs when one wants to act ethically but feels powerless to do anything about the perceived unethical behavior. One may feel that one's actions will have no impact or that those actions actually will have harmful consequences to oneself and/or others. Ethical impotence can be understood in terms of an eight-step model of…

The first article in this two-part series (Sulkowski & Picciolini, 2018) described how youth become radicalized or join violent extremist groups. In lieu of becoming ideologically brainwashed or proselytized, most youth join radicalized or extremist groups to help establish a sense of identity, community, and purpose, which are basic human…

Although recent events have many concerned about school violence, schools are safer today than in years past. Nevertheless, one act of violence is one too many, and schools need to be ready to implement protocols and procedures, such as behavior threat assessment and management (BTAM), that prevent and mitigate school violence. In the wake of…

Since 2013, AHA! (Attitude. Harmony. Achievement) has trained over 300 AHA! Peace Builder youth at six area schools in Santa Barbara, California. These young people have conducted outreach to more than 5,000 additional peers, family members, and community members via Connection Circles, which they led during class, between classes, at AHA! Peace…

Up to two-thirds of U.S. children have experienced at least one type of serious childhood trauma, such as abuse, neglect, natural disaster, or experiencing or witnessing violence. Trauma is possibly the largest public health issue facing our children today (CDC, 2019). Traumatized students are especially prone to difficulty in self-regulation,…

For youth from distressed communities, the gateway into the juvenile justice system can be the beginning of a treacherous road to adulthood. Recent studies have causally linked juvenile incarceration with higher high school dropout and adult incarceration rates, which have subsequently reduced labor market and social engagement outcomes for a…

This paper explores the biographical and cultural sources that inspired the decision of Janusz Korczak (Warsaw, 1878; Treblinka, 1942) to make his life's vocation the education of young children from dysfunctional families. This decision emerged out of the radical version of humanism he embraced. His identification of children as the population…

The paper "Exploring Prosocial Behavior through Structured Philosophical Dialogue: A Quantitative Evaluation" ambitiously made the argument that a pedagogy grounded in dialogical inquiry as part of the Philosophy for Children program will positively affect incidents of bullying in schools. This response to the author's work includes a…

With a great deal of divisiveness in today's political climate (Gramlich, 2017), it is not difficult to imagine the impact that partisanship can have on youth. The Internet is filled with examples of social media rants, name-calling, and even violent incidents as adults engage in unproductive and uncivil behavior with those who are different from…

In the fall of 2017, the University of Florida (UF) and the city of Gainesville were part of a coda to a terrible event in recent U.S. history: the violent torch-wielding rally of white supremacists and extreme far-right groups in the college town of Charlottesville, Virginia, that left three people dead and at least 33 injured. These events…

This article is about moments when teachers experience hate speech in education and need to act. Based on John Dewey's work on moral philosophy and examples from teaching practice, I would like to contribute to the discussion about moral education by emphasizing the following: (1) the importance of experience, (2) the problem with prescribed…