The author of this article states that one of the more troubling aspects of contemporary American culture is the considerable number of persons who feel no obligation to support freedom of speech and/or freedom of the press. Those who disagree are perceived as dangerous. There are right answers and wrong answers, and to suggest that one might learn something from those who espouse ideas other than one's own quickly leads to a charge that one is "selling out." The author contends that a primary goal of social science instruction in a pluralistic-democratic society should center on directly confronting such intolerance, while at the same time avoiding suggesting to students that tolerance demands that one treat all ideas as equals. The key to this is assisting students in recognizing what it means--and does not mean--when one speaks of the importance of tolerating disagreement in the context of the complex and ever evolving experiment in American democracy, in which they hopefully will become active participants.