Giving Compass' Take:

• Sarah Stitzlein at The Conversation discusses ways teachers and educators can teach hope and help students explore real social and political problems for the 2020 campaign season.

• What can parents do at home to have open conversations with their children regarding the 2020 political campaign? 

Here's an article on the effects of hope on life outcomes.


The 2020 presidential election campaign has already started.

Election campaigns inspire hope, but they can also quickly lead to political despair. During the last two elections, America’s polarized citizens experienced significant swings between hope and despair.

As a philosopher who specializes in citizenship education and political theory, I believe that political hope can be taught in schools and colleges. It can lay a pathway to help citizens make good choices at the ballot box and sustain political engagement.

Here are some topics of discussion:

  1. Despair in democracy
  2. Teaching political hope
  3. Expressing dissent
  4. Questioning power structures
  5. Tell a story

Read the full article about hope during the 2020 political campaign by Sarah Stitzlein at The Conversation