ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that honestly facing the realities of what can happen as we continue to struggle for a more robust critical democracy in education—to its possible tensions and contradictions—should not lead to paralysis or cynicism. It shows that struggles over the curriculum are essential to building thick democratic education both in the content of what is taught and how it is taught, as well as who makes the decisions about these issues. Struggles over culture, over identities, and over Whiteness and the feeling that one is part of the "new oppressed" are core parts of the emerging politics of education on the Right and within the religious Right. The chapter focuses on intersectionality, class is an essential dynamic to a substantive critical understanding of the politics of education and of the role of the local, regional, and national state.
