Let's imagine an educational rights movement

Thanks to the several people who posted comments in response to my introductory entry. It seems that my idea of an "educational rights movement" has some appeal, though of course it also raises questions. Let's explore the possibilities together.

For me, the notion of an "educational rights movement" arose from my research on the social movements of the 1960s that gave rise to the free school and homeschooling movements. It is quite clear that the activism of that era was largely inspired by the vision and courage of African-Americans' struggle for legal and social equality --the civil rights movement. I was particularly struck by a statement of Vincent Harding, a theologian who worked with Dr. King and recounted the struggle in his book Hope and History. He said that the civil rights movement should not be understood as simply an effort to gain rights for black people, that in a larger sense it was "a powerful outcropping of the continuing struggle for the expansion of democracy in the United States" and "for the freeing of all of our spirits." This is why it moved so many young people, black, white, and every other color, in the 1960s, and this is essentially what I believe the diverse movements for educational alternatives are about--the expansion of democracy and the freeing of our spirits.

Whether one supports "free" or "democratic" schools, Montessori or Waldorf models, homeschooling, charter schools, progressive ideals in public education, or other alternatives, I think we share these core values: democracy, and freedom of the human spirit. The differences in our teaching styles, classroom design (or lack thereof), choice of educational heroes, and so on are superficial in the context of these fundamental goals. The key question is what we mean by "democracy" and what we mean by "the freeing of our spirits."

For me, democracy means more than personal liberty. It involves a commitment to social responsibility, to collaborative community decision making. Sometimes such cooperation means that we willingly yield some of our personal preferences in order to serve a common good that ultimately serves us as well. (This is the Deweyan/progressive response to standard conservative notions of "liberty" and the "free market.") In his comments on this blog, "CZALE" (who I think is my friend Coop, am I right?), emphasizes liberty as an antidote to overly concentrated power, and while I agree that in many contexts, such as the founding fathers' rebellion against colonial domination, liberty is a "key" value, I think that a holistic understanding of democracy recognizes common purposes and social endeavors in balance with personal autonomy.

As for "the freeing of our spirits," I think this points to the mysterious, active, creative source of human consciousness and experience. Something stirs within each human soul, which cannot be explained by biological, social or psychological categories alone. Many people have definite ideas about what this source is (e.g. Rudolf Steiner's complex and esoteric cosmology), but I don't. I think it's enough to acknowledge that something spiritual, something mysterious, animates our lives, and that a truly good society, and a truly good education, respects this mystery enough to support children and youths to discover and express their own deepest true selves. Although an unschooler does this one way and a Waldorf educator in an entirely different way, can we not agree that their goals are similar, and that they can be allies in a broader movement for human liberation?

So this is the basis for my idea of "educational rights." Ruth's comments (hi Ruth--I'm glad you're connected!) show us that there are still a lot of questions to work out, and I'm interested in people's thoughts.

Finally, I want to thank Jason for his comments. All of his ideas for expanding the movement are important to pursue. Some of us are working to bring the idea of non-authoritarian education to the attention of Bioneers and other "cultural creatives" who have brilliant holistic solutions to many cultural problems but who often seem absolutely clueless about holistic educational alternatives. This could be an ongoing topic of this blog, so please share your thoughts about this issue, too.