Joel Westheimer is professor of the social foundations of education and former university research chair in democracy and education at the University of Ottawa. He is also an education columnist for CBC Radio. He began his career teaching in the New York City Public School system before obtaining a PhD from Stanford University. Westheimer’s award-winning books include Pledging Allegiance: The Politics of Patriotism in America’s Schools (foreword by the late Howard Zinn) and Among Schoolteachers: Community, Autonomy, and Ideology in Teachers’ Work, both from Teachers College Press. Westheimer lectures widely and frequently addresses radio and television audiences nationally and internationally. Visit his website at joelwestheimer.org for more information, and follow him @joelwestheimer.