School for Society 2: It’s Gonna Take Time
Item 2: Reformers must adopt a generational time frame.
If we accept the idea that we need to change our educational system to give more students the skills and perspectives they will require in order to be active citizens in a robust democracy, then we have accepted the premise that many of the schools in that system do not prepare their students for such citizenship. If schools were already doing this, we would not need to change them. Furthermore, if people were developing these skills outside of the educational system, we would not be worried about trying to make sure the educational system can develop them. The inevitable conclusion is that many of the citizens in America today lack either the skills or the mindset to take an active role in creating and maintaining a democratic society. We can argue about the degree and how easy this would be to fix, but we have to acknowledge that the status quo is substantially lacking in significant ways.
So if this is true, how do reformers correct this? I argued that this project must be viewed in terms of generations. To be sure, there are things that we need to fix in the short term. But the process of changing an educational system and the democratic society that it supports is going to require a lot of two-steps-forward-one-step-back compromises, and sometimes one-step-forward-two-steps-back might be the best thing you can achieve in a specific situation. Reformers have to accept that they’re in it for the long haul. Partial victories should be celebrated as foundations for further progress; setbacks should be viewed as learning opportunities and motivations to keep working. Reformers need to be the change that they want to see in the world, but they can’t stop if they don’t see the world changing to meet them right away. Knowing the scale of the project and accepting the length of time that success will take can help keep the project growing. If I plant an acorn today I shouldn’t give up the project when I don’t have an oak tree by October.
In one sense, this is another easy item for a reforming school to adopt. After all, the whole purpose of a school is to teach the next generation. In Democracy and Education, Dewey argues that education (inside and outside of classrooms) is the way that a society decides which parts of itself to pass along to the next generation. A very stark example is segregated education under Jim Crow – this was a major way that the culture and attitude of segregation was passed on to the next generation, until the federal government acted to make sure that it would not be passed along any further. When people argue about what texts to read and which to leave out of the curriculum, they are arguing about what legacy we should leave to the future citizens. Anyone involved in education should recognize and embrace the stakes involved.
But even though educators will not see the full fruits of the work that they do today for years, we are also confronted every day with the immediate consequences of our schools’ successes and failures. There is an urgency to the fight against things like the excessive use of standardized tests and corporate influence over education. It is likely that a reformist school, if started from scratch, would attract staff, students, and families that are on board with the vision of the school, which will help the school community avoid conflicts on the local scale. But ideally, this would allow the school community to engage with the larger struggle about education and democracy. For example, students could study the legislative process in order to understand how the budgeting process works, and then use that insight to devise campaigns to change the school funding system.
Once engaged in the democratic process, the school community needs to be prepared for the highs and lows of that engagement. It will be very important for the staff to keep that in mind, so that students do not form unrealistic expectations of their democratic involvement. If those expectations are not met, disappointment can lead to cynicism and disengagement, which are precisely the things that a democratic reform school should not try to pass on to the next generation.
About Dave Thomer
Born and raised in Philadelphia. Studied philosophy at Fordham University in the Bronx, where I made many great friends and met my wonderful wife. We moved back to Philadelphia, where I studied philosophy some more and became a teacher. Online and off, I'm looking for ways that we can be better citizens and build stronger communities.
Tuesday, July 2nd 2013 at 7:36 am |
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