Day 32 of AY20-21: election day experiences

Tuesday was election day, so I was not quite sure what to expect from the Learners. I imagined that many of them, or at least their families, were quite anxious about what was to come, and I wanted to find ways to provide space for the Learners to process and express their feelings. But while I thought that the day might be a lot, the intentions they wrote suggested that maybe I was a day too early in my worries. The intentions for the day included: write a story, eat, eat, drink, crochet, not have intentions, don’t die, pet dogs, listen to music, dig a hole, film, chill, ink comic, and feel water.

I asked them if they were willing to move away from the drop-off location for the morning meeting and after a back and forth, they decided that they would move to the small field next to an old house. When we got there I introduced the human spectrum activity where we arranged ourselves in groups or on a spectrum according to our similarities and differences. Some of the Learners were not interested in it, and that feeling quickly spread to everyone else. Three of them said they needed to go to the bathroom, even. It was a really great example of when one person expresses or projects a sentiment, how it can shift the attitudes of others. This example holds in small groups such as ours, as well as in presidential elections.

Before we ended the meeting we needed to decide where we would go to spend our day. There were some varied opinions in the group. It came as no surprise that several Learners wanted to go to the lake. But two Learners wanted to move away from the lake for a change. One wanted to head up the hill to a spot that had a great view of the lake and all the hills around us. Another wanted to go to the waterfall. The Learners who wanted to go to the lake said we should just vote on it. At that point I interceded and reminded them that we can come to collective decisions without resorting to votes which would have ignored the needs of the Learners who wanted a break from the lake. So the Learners began to explain their preferences. One did not want to go uphill because their feet were hurting them. Two of them wanted to go to the lake to dig holes in the sand with the shovels one of them brought. One wanted to feel the lake water. One who wanted to go to the waterfall said that they would just go with whatever everyone else wanted, but that they would enjoy going on a hike. And the one who wanted to go up the hill said that they did not appreciate how hot they got the day before by the lake where there was minimal cover from the sun. They decided that it made sense to go to the lake for the day, but that they would commit to going away from the lake on Wednesday. It was a great example of consensus decisions making that acknowledged the needs of each Learner, and left no Learner feeling like their voice did not matter just because they were not in the majority.

The lake is a draw for most Learners

On the way to the lake we stopped at the bathroom where one of the Learners found a quick moving fuzzy black caterpillar. Then we moved onto the lake where everyone began to settle in. I asked the two oldest Learners to chat with me real quickly where I asked them to reflect on the way they approached participating in the human spectrum activity, and how they have an outsized influence on how younger Learners may choose to participate. I thanked them for listening to me, and then I set out a water bowl for Cuddle Buddies Ingrid and Ivan who were joining us for the first time that cycle.

There were some young children at the park who began chatting with me and we got into a long conversation where I ran with some of their joking and insisted that I was an alien from another planet. It was a fun conversation where we discussed what makes one an alien, to include how if I was an alien, then they were aliens to me! I also rejected their demands that I needed to accept the ways in which humans make sense of the universe which sent their wheels spinning. When the kids left, another Learner approached me and apologized for the way that she responded to the morning meeting. I do not know if she did so because of the way I expressed myself at the meeting, if it was something I said to her in particular, or if she was just reading the room. But I appreciated it. And then everything returned to normal.

Laying in the sun with Cuddle Buddy Ivan

For the two Learners who were in my cell for the first time this year, Tuesday was also their first time being with the Cuddle Buddies. And one of them really took to Ingrid and Ivan. She came over to get to know the dogs and in the process we got to know each other. Meanwhile, the Learners who wanted to dig did a lot of digging on the beach. We did discuss the importance of wearing shoes if they were going to be digging with the shovels, and I asked them to shovel on their knees if they were not going to wear shoes. I had to remind them of this agreement a few times but it eventually clicked.

Experimenting with making videos

One of the older Learners did not show up on Tuesday, which left another one of the older Learners looking for something to do. In their boredom, they decided that they would go looking for pecans to harvest and eat. Meanwhile, a Learner who brought a camera stand to make some videos got into conversation with another Learner about creating videos for social media, and soon they were discussing ways they could collaborate on making the videos. One of the Learners then experimented with making time-lapse videos of passing boats, while the other chose to lay in the sun with the dogs. Another Learner spent much of her day continuing to diligently ink the comics that she has been working on for a while, although she took a break to place fake poop next to my bag as a joke.

Is this the beginning of prank season?

Mid-afternoon, I checked in with the Learners to see if they needed to refill their water bottles. Two of them said they did so we trekked back to the drop-off location with the Cuddle Buddies to top off. When I returned, the older Learner who was picking pecans had a short conversations with me, and then I pulled out my Rubik’s cube to play with it a bit. And before I knew it the day was coming to an end. At the afternoon roundup we did rose-bud-thorn to reflect on our day, and we closed out the meeting with the number game. In the number game we need to count from one to fifteen, with no person saying two numbers in a row, and if two people speak at the same time we have to start over as a group. It is not too difficult if only a few people are playing, but when there are seven people, it is not easy. In our experience the number game is often slow, and never fast. But this time, they flew through it without skipping a beat. We were finished in about ten seconds. We then cleaned up our space and made our way to the pick-up location. There, the rides of two Learners were waiting. But with the other four Learners still sitting around, one of them said they enjoyed how effortlessly we did the number game and asked if we could do it again. We did, with a few restarts, and then an older Learner suggested we play the I-game, where we make a story as a group, one word at a time. It was a really nice counter to the activity at the beginning of the day, and a great way to end the day at Abrome.

Are we creating good citizens?

Yesterday was primary runoff election day in Texas and that got me thinking about politics. One often repeated argument for schooling is that it teaches students to become “active participants in democratic life.” If so, given the state of our democracy, could anyone be blamed for saying that schooling is an abject failure?

Right now the United States is mired in a pandemic that has killed over 135,000 people in the United States (573,000 worldwide) in large part because of a mix of inaction, incompetence, malfeasance, and political cowardice by politicians and bureaucrats from the federal to the local levels. Their actions and inaction have likely deepened and will greatly prolong the pandemic-induced economic depression that has already cost over 40 million Americans their jobs, with over 5 million of them also losing their health insurance. And over the past couple of months, cities across the country have been rocked by protests over the continued killings of people (disproportionately Black people) by the police.

But the current crises are not the first signs of the failure of schools to prepare students to be good citizens. American democracy (and hence, American schooling) has never produced more than a smattering of politicians who fought for the wellbeing of everyone in society. Instead, it reliably produces politicians who fight on behalf of the people and organizations with the most power. We have long been saddled with an economic system that has extracted wealth from the majority of the people and funneled it to a tiny percentage at the top. While government continues to pare back social services and shrink public spaces, they continue to use tax dollars to subsidize industry, wage war, and fund a larger police presence. And government institutions (e.g., policing) continue to prey on the people with the least by serving them the most.

So about schools creating good citizens—it is obviously not happening. In the most innocent framing, schooling is structured in a manner that discourages dissent or progress. Outside of some private democratic schools, students don’t get to practice democracy, much less freedom. Students are not permitted to make the decisions that are relevant to their lives. Students do not have the freedom to right the wrongs they see, especially if the one doing the wrong is the school leadership itself. How can students become good citizens as adults if they are denied the opportunity to influence and change their communities during childhood?

A more critical framing of schooling recognizes it as a tool of oppression perpetuating power and privilege. Schooling makes clear to students what success looks like: study hard, excel on tests, get into a top ranked college, get a degree, work a high paying job, and have kids who do the same. But most importantly, act right. Students are told that they must compete with and outperform their peers for a shot at winning the game. But what the students are not told is that the game is rigged. That almost every system, including schooling, is structured so that those with the most have a head start over those with less. And that those with the least are actively harmed by the systems in a way that amplifies disparities. What good is patting oneself on the back for “uplifting” the poor kids or the Black kids through education if we are simultaneously placing hurdles between those kids and the rich white kids? While the most well-intentioned teachers are trying to decolonize the classroom, the kids are still stuck in the classroom.

One of the worst things about schooling is how it conditions young people to forfeit their opportunities to create a better world. It tells them that winning through competition with others is the path to getting to the top, which is the ultimate goal. And to be at the top means there are a lot of people below. Also, one can only win if they do so according to the systems that are in place. For example, one cannot be a valedictorian by opting out of schooling.

Schooling does not tell students that they cannot make the world a better place, they just lead those students to believing that the avenues for doing so are through the systems that create more losers than winners. If they want to do good it is best to be successful. Perhaps they can get a job at McKinsey, or work for Teach for America, or maybe run for office. But at the very least, no matter where they fall in terms of success according to schooling and profession, as a good citizen they will vote. Because if everyone voted then at least the political systems would serve the people, which would then force other systems to serve the people, right?

Sadly, no. While elections do have consequences, they are also a great way to blame the people for not getting the world they deserve. When the people complain about how the system serves those with the most power, the people are often told they didn’t get enough people to the polls. Maybe more schooling will do the trick?

I don’t mean to be too negative on schools. Schools alone are not the problem. And if an ideal form of schooling existed and was a threat to the status quo, if it was advancing equity and justice, it would be ripped apart and reconstituted into what we see today. But such schooling would not be creating good citizens in the way that we are told the current institution of schooling is or should. Such schooling would give power to the students. The students would have autonomy over their own lives. They would be able to co-create the culture and operations of those schools. They would be able to organize with other students and go into the world and shape their communities. They would know that they can do more than just vote. Those are the type of citizens that I want to surround myself with.

Imagine that. Let’s create that.

Election 2016: Democracy and Education

It is Election Day 2016, and as I look around at Abrome, I recognize that the people in our community who will be most impacted by this election are the ones who are too young to vote. Our Learning Coaches (the adults) each voted early, although I would be willing to bet that none of them did so enthusiastically. No matter what your political affiliation or orientation, I think most of us can agree that the 2016 election has brought out the worst in many, and that it highlights some glaring flaws in the American political system.

First and foremost, the political system is not democratic by any means. As I previously alluded to, not everyone has a say in who is elected. Children, high numbers of the infirm or mentally disabled, many homeless, most incarcerated felons, many ex-felons, residents of US territories, and foreign nationals are locked out of the process, even though they most often feel the brunt of public policy decisions.

Among those who can vote, the process is still not truly democratic. Voter turnout issues aside, a vote in New Hampshire carries more weight than a vote in Wisconsin, which carries more weight than a vote in California. This is a function of the Electoral College, and clearly violates the notion of “one person, one vote.” And even if all votes were equal, those who directly and heavily contribute to candidates have an outsized influence on the policy positions that those candidates take once in office.

Add on top of the undemocratic nature of these elections from the people’s perspective, the two-party system that has a tight grip on the electoral process makes the notion of democracy in politics a laughable one. The parties are semi-private organizations that cater to a tiny number of powerful constituencies that are out of step with the majority of Americans, but the overwhelming majority of voters believe that they must fall in line behind one of the main party candidates on Election Day.

So what does this have to do with education? Considering that schools are a key tool used to prepare young people for engagement in society, a considerable amount. Unfortunately, the roles current students are being trained to hold in society are not nearly as idealistic as we have been led to believe. Fundamental to the purpose of schooling was a sorting function to create different classes of people, most of which were to serve at the convenience of those who controlled society. While the makeup of the people who control society has evolved, and while there is a greater possibility for mobility from the lowest classes to the controlling classes today than when the schools were created, from a functional perspective modern day schools further entrench disparities instead of serving as a great equalizer. And as noted before, inequality is incompatible with true democracy.

There is a nation-wide collection of “Democratic Schools” that argues that by creating democratic settings in the schoolhouse, where every child has as much of a say as every adult, that we can create a democratic society where the people take control of the political machine. Although we love Democratic Schools, we disagree with this hypothesis.

Democracy is not a silver bullet solution to our problems, as any black man in East Texas or any homeless man in the streets of San Francisco might be able to attest to. Democracy in its worst form allows for the minority to be abused by the majority. It is essential that an enlightened society respect the rights of all people, in spite of biases and privilege. While we agree that there is tremendous value to be gained by giving young people as much of a voice as adults in schools—promoting democracy in education does not solve the problems of the status quo, and in many ways it serves as a distraction.

So how can education get us to a better future? Three powerful ways it can move us there are (1) by promoting empathy within the populace, (2) by creating an informed, thoughtful populace that is not easily moved by false promises or dogmatic rhetoric, and (3) by allowing all members of society to believe they can improve the human condition.

First, many of the problems of our political system revolve around a fear or hatred of the other. These manifest themselves most powerfully in an anti- stance against entire communities such as black people, immigrants, Muslims, Jewish people, people with mental illness, the homeless, drug users, and people who identify as LGBTQ, among others. Politicians recognize this fear and often times play on it, promising policies that will directly harm these groups so that the bulk of voters can feel safer in the status quo.

An Emancipated Learning environment that embraces diversity of people, ages, and ideologies would directly undermine the divisions that require a lack of empathy to sustain. When people are introduced to those they are told to be scared of, they quickly recognize that we are all far more alike than we are different. Diversity brings tremendous value to our lives in terms of enrichment, creativity, and connection. The age diversity component of empathy building cannot be emphasized enough. In most schools we segregate children by age, taking away a critical opportunity for them to develop empathy by way of caring for those who are younger than them.

Second, our current political system requires a largely uniformed or apathetic populace. This may sound pessimistic, but it is easily affirmed by looking at what politicians promise and what their donors advocate, and comparing them with the decisions politicians make once in office. While society is much better off now than it was a century ago, there are still large swaths of the American populace that are marginalized or oppressed by the political and private institutions that most accept as necessary. An informed populace that also has empathy for marginalized and oppressed communities would not tolerate the current structure of society.

An Emancipated Learning environment, free of a status quo promoting standardized curriculum, and free of hierarchical structures that demand subservience, allows Learners to seek truth in their world. It allows them to question narratives that are presented to them, and to have the courage to seek out alternative explanations, or novel solutions. These people are far less likely to be moved by empty promises or exaggerated threats.

Third, our political system is tailored to appeal to the belief that we cannot improve the world around us. We are left to look for saviors who will come in and manipulate the political institutions to organize society in a way that benefits us, most often at the expense of others. It is not a system that encourages people to try to create a better society for themselves. It tells people that a vote every several years is how one performs their civic duty, while suggesting that how they spend the rest of their lives is irrelevant (except when politicians decide to alter their daily behavior for the benefit of others). 

An Emancipated Learning environment would reject the notion that our value can be captured in a vote. Instead, it would remind us that we can all lead remarkable lives—lives in which we have a positive impact on the communities around us. It allows us to realize that we can be happy, healthy, and serve others so that we can all be better off. And these people are the ones who do not need to rely on the established institutions that have left them virtually powerless.

On Election Day 2016, our Learners are unable to vote on the person who is going to have an outsized impact on their lives over the next decade, for better or worse. But far more importantly, they are in an educational environment that allows them to recognize that they can transcend the limitations of electoral politics. These Learners know that they can purposefully and directly improve the human condition.

Photo: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Republican and Democratic presidential nominees (Wikipedia)