Two narratives have surfaced to describe the current American political crisis and the responsibility of educators to address it. In one, American democracy is in crisis due to political polarization. The views of Americans in the two parties are at a greater distance from each other than they have been since the Civil War, commentators warn, and the resulting animosity makes politics a zero sum game in which elected officials care more about the other side losing than finding PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION | Winston thompson, editor