• Front Page
• Introduction
• Public Deliberation
• The Purpose of Deliberation
• The Challenge of Educating Diverse Students
• Public Deliberation and School Reform
• Ways to Come Together
  • Forums and Study Circles
• Focus Groups
• Citizens Juries
• Costs and Facilities
• Bibliography
• Appendix A: A Guide to Three Dialogue Formats
• Appendix B: A Guide to Five Dialogue Organizations
• Resources

Public Dialogue: A Democratic Tradition

From Our Historical Past:

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education.

Thomas Jefferson
Letter to William Charles Jarvis
(September 28, 1820)

After the discussion, I had a change of heart. And that always amazes me, because you think you know how you feel about things, then you hear someone else's opinion.

Woman from El Paso, Texas