Let's Start Talking...

from Ron Miller's blog Paths of Learning:


Is the pendulum swinging back?

Some historians have pointed out that modern social and political movements seem to follow a rhythm of ebb and flow. A period of innovation and revision is followed by a conservative reaction, which eventually produces a hunger for renewed change. These cycles seem to take twenty or thirty years to play themselves out.

Well, the last period of radical change in education came in the late 1960s and early 1970s--about 35 years ago. Since then, the right wing counter-revolution has effectively forced progressive, humanistic, and holistic approaches to the margins of educational policy and practice. A Nation at Risk, Goals 2000, and now the policy of No Child Left Untested (sorry, I mean "Behind") have turned schools into a mechanical arm of the corporate state. Education becomes ever more controlled, narrowed, and standardized.

Yet there are signs that this reactionary cycle is reaching its zenith and may be heading into decline. Opposition to the No Child Left Untested (excuse me, "Behind") agenda is growing across the nation. Parents and educators are discovering that children who are denied freedom and self-expression, artistic experiences, and even recess in an obsessive quest to meet ironclad standards are truly unhappy in their learning. There is a growing rebellion against the cult of homework. And hundreds of thousands of families are turning to homeschooling and diverse alternative schools to provide their children with an educational experience that honors their dignity and the fullness of their humanity.

I have watched the alternative education movements struggle in isolation against the corporate juggernaut for my entire 25-year career. But something new has been happening in the last few months. They are talking to each other. They are showing interest in collaborating. They are sensing the possibility of reaching the mainstream public with their ideas for the first time. A few of us have begun an email and now a phone conference discussion to consider a "think tank" or some sort of center that could speak on behalf of progressive/democratic/holistic education to journalists, parents and policymakers who are beginning to realize that educational fascism is unsustainable (and just plain wrong) but don't know what educational freedom might look like. What might happen if we relax "standards" and eliminate ruthless testing? Alternative educators have many important stories to tell, and data to back up their stories, and we're going to go public with them in the coming months.

It's time to come together and get involved. This year, consider attending the conferences being hosted by the Alternative Education Resource Organization and International Association of Learning Alternatives. (See the Resources section of this website -- www.pathsoflearning.net -- under useful websites.) Read about the new collaboration in the magazine Education Revolution, of which I am editor. A new cycle has begun--and you ought to join in.

Feb 21, 2008