Public discourses in schools: Purposes, problems, possibilities

Classroom discussion can play an important role in the formation of citizens, and in more ways than one. Yet recitation persists as the discursive norm in classrooms, and the literature on discussion lacks clarity as to purpose. This article contributes a delineation of two purposes—interpretation (enlightenment) and decision making (engagement)—and argues that they are elemental to both discus-sion pedagogy and citizen formation. As practices, they upend recita-tion and offer an occasion for liberal education, including opening oneself to difference. The author aims to show that classroom dis-cussion is useful both pedagogically and politically when the two pur-poses are articulated in a diverse school setting, and that critics risk their own interests when they dismiss the possibilities of discussion. While citizen formation (the production of civic con-sciousness and behavior) takes place at many sitesacross society, public schools especially are tech-nologies, in Weber’s (1999) sense, dedicated to doing precisely that—creating subjects with particular identities and abilities i