Welcome to this new conversation

Welcome to PathsOfLearning.net and this discussion of education alternatives. Hosting a blog is a new experiment for me, and I'm curious to see where our conversations will lead.

I've been working since the mid-1980s to help build a more unified, connected movement for educational alternatives. I'm convinced that as long as the groups of Montessori and Waldorf educators, democratic schools, homeschoolers, progressive activists in public education, charter schools, and other alternative approaches remain separate and scattered, we will not effectively change the authoritarian educational culture that dominates U.S. and other societies. I have long suggested that the philosophical perspective of "holistic education" could offer a broad, unifying set of principles, but so far this suggestion has not caught on widely.

More recently, I have begun to think in terms of building an "educational rights movement" that consciously honors and builds upon the struggles of the civil rights movement of an earlier generation. I see our work in education as a natural extension of the ongoing struggle for a more authentic and participatory democracy. I'll write more about this here and in essays that I'll post on www.PathsOfLearning.net .

By the way, if you've visited this website before, you'll notice that it has changed dramatically. Here's a bit of history: In 1999, I opened the Foundation for Educational Renewal to publish the magazine Paths of Learning. A very bright graduate student named Robin Martin contacted me and wondered whether the Foundation would sponsor her in establishing an online database containing resources on educational alternatives. We worked together for several years, and Robin did a fabulous job creating this website and filling it with great material. A couple years ago, having completed her Ph.D. work, Robin went off to other adventures (she's teaching at a university in the Middle East) and the site has been rather passive. Even though I discontinued the magazine and shut down the Foundation, I realized that this could still be an important resource and networking tool, and decided that I would use it to gather and make available my recent writings and conference presentations. I've kept what I thought was Robin's best work, but removed material that has grown outdated. I hope to keep PathsOfLearning.net fresh and stimulating.

So, who's reading this and what are you interested in discussing? What do you find useful on this website and what other writings or resources would you like to see added?
Let's get this blog rolling...