"עזר כנגדה": שימוש מושכל בדינמיקה של עימות פוליטי בין מורה לתלמיד לטובת קידומו של חינוך אזרחי

Civics teachers often encounter situations in which a student disagrees strongly with the teacher during a political discussion in the classroom, challenges the teacher’s ability to control the lesson, and tries to undercut the moral and ethical position the teacher is presenting. Such situations are made possible in classes in which the teacher’s aim is to educate in the spirit of openness to critical thinking; the desire to avoid such confrontations is liable to thwart this aim. In this ethnographic field study a practice called “helpmeet,” which teachers use to cope with such difficulties, was identified. The teachers make rational, pedagogical use of repeated confrontations with a particularly extreme student by assigning that student a specific role in class discussions. By providing attention and a platform for the student’s positions, they cause the student to justify and moderate them while, at the same time, demonstrating to the entire class how a disagreement should be managed and how to respond to extremist views. Applying this practice requires 'emotional labor' and the establishment of relations of affection and trust between the teacher and the student, without which the continuing confrontation may boil over into a destructive clash. This article details the advantages of the practice and the conditions that enable it to succeed.