John Harris Loflin

International Association for Learning Alternatives (IALA)
Democratic Education Consortium
Black & Latino Policy Institute

This is a selected part of the paper. To see the complete version go to the IALA werbsite at http://learningalternatives.net/weblog/post/category/loflin-john/


INTRODUCTION: WHAT DOES A DEMOCRACY REQUIRE OF ITS SCHOOLS?

American public schools and American democracy (Bernard & Mondale, 2001)

The American Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. As the United States grew in the early 1800s, citizens realized the importance of an educated populace to a healthy civic society and nation. Until the 1850s, most formal education in the United States took place in private schools. Pushed by a need to educate all children, especially recent immigrants, the locally controlled public “common school” was formed to instill the common set of political and social values needed for nationhood and a shared American society. By 1890, 9 out of 10 pupils were enrolled in public schools.

Early “equality” meant difference, not sameness, of treatment
By the early 1900s, the growing public schools were influenced by a need for school leaders. Some were reformers dissatisfied with the “politics” that influenced local control or what was to be in a common curriculum. To policy elites, “democracy at its best” meant schools administered by trained superintendents, not by lay people. As well, “Equality meant difference, not sameness, of treatment.” Spreading the curriculum into several tracts created equality of opportunity for students of varied ability and for the numerous ethnic/racial groups.

In the late 1960s, reformers encouraged a more decentralized administration, and smaller schools with increased parental involvement. Because tracking led to “academic segregation” they argued for the same high academic standards for all students.

In the 1990s, school choice (options within a public school district, choices between public and private schools, and the options of homeschooling, virtual schools, or free schools) created a competitive market, putting “…a new spin on democracy.”

At the beginning of the 21 century, expanded versions of education include alternative assessments, self-actualization, global/environmental responsibility, educational equity (Friedlaender & Darling-Hammond, 2007); and, “democratizing” the concepts of intelligence (Williams, 1998), adolescence (Loflin, 2007), mutli-culturalism (Loflin, 2007), and the body (Loflin, 2006a).

From public schools as examples of democratic local control to assimilators of a common culture, from improving democracy by “expert” leadership to tracking, and from smaller schools to school choice as a means to high achievement by all, this public institution reflects what kind of democracy and society America has and wants. This paper will trace schools in a democracy and democracy in schools in all their definitions and forms. The summary and the insights in the “Recommendations” will be helpful to preparing Americans for a truly 21st century democracy.**

Is there a “participation gap” as well as an achievement gap? (Glickman, 2008)

Democratic education advocate Carl Glickman notes that as well as an intellectual achievement gap, American public schools have a “participation gap.” This and the stagnating intellectual achievement gap in America are major issues related to each other. To address them, he asserts, requires a renewed focus on the purposes of a democracy and the practices of education.

Glickman looks at indicators showing participatory democracy is in decline. He notes connections to civic and religious groups are down, people are less connected to family and friends and more live alone, people are less informed about public affairs, and trust in key institutions is low. People with the least education are the ones least involved. Glickman’s research shows the following:
• In 1975 58% college graduates participated in some kind of community project for that year.
• By 2005 that proportion had been cut to 35%. For those who dropped out of high school, the decline was from 32 % to 15%, a 55% drop.
• By 2007 few high school dropouts left their schools having participated in a community project.

As American cities have become more diverse, Glickman is concerned that its inhabitants may tend to withdraw from collective life, have more distrust of neighbors, and withdraw even from close friends. He sees less volunteering, giving to charity, working on community projects, and registering to vote.

What is disconcerting, he believes Americans have less faith that they can actually make a difference to improve the quality of life in their community.

Elections returns reflect Participation Gap too

According to the Higher Education Research Institute, the percentage of students who voted in high school elections fell from 72.0% in 1966 to 21.5% in 2006 (Pryor et al., 2007).

The United States Census Bureau (2005) figures, with respect to the percentages of registered voters18 to 24 year who voted in presidential elections, show an average turnout rate of 41% between 1964 and 2004. The 1964 rate of 51% was the highest rate over next 40 years. The 2004 turnout rate was 42%. Lows were 32.6% in 1996 and 32.3% in 2000.

With respect to the percentages of all registered voters who voted in presidential elections, the average rate between 1964 and 2004 was 60%. The 1964 rate of 69% was the highest rate over next 40 years. The 2004 turnout rate was 58%. Lows were 54% in 1996 and 55% in 2000.

Democracy: A common terminology

Many un¬der¬stand de¬mo¬cra¬cy as a concept with a meaning that is constantly changing due to chal¬len¬ges and disputes. This is not be¬cause peo¬ple cannot agree on its definition, but because the very idea of democracy calls for a continuous discussion, re-evaluation, re-making, and re-organization about what it actually means and entails. (Dewey, 1916; Gallie, 1955; Parker, 2003; Biesta, 2007).

America has Abraham Lincoln's broad definition of democracy as government “…of the people, by the people, and for the people…" UNESCO sug¬gests “the twin prin¬ciples of popular control over collective decision-making and equality of rights in the exercise of that control.” Members of a group have an equal right to be a part of the decisions that affect the group. This takes in Dewey’s idea that democracy is more than a form of government, but is mainly “a mode of associated living.” See Jefferson and Dewey p. 17.

From a political definition to include a social/cultural-orientation: A more inclusive democracy

This is a movement from a political definition to include a social-oriented, and a culturally more inclusive democracy, taking popular sovereignty seriously by emphasizing forms of citizen action beyond voting. It opens up a new civic space for direct and cooperative involvement in public life for participatory democracy (Parker, 2003).

Democratic Education: A common terminology

What is Democratic Education? Perhaps a view of possibilities can continue a conversation about the definition. Currently, the definition seems to be bound by general areas: (1) Democratic processes, school governance, civic education, citizenship; (2) Freedom to choose, learning without compulsion; and, (3) Self-actualization, global aspects.

Democratic processes, classroom/school governance, civic education

All children, regardless of family economic status or future occupation, must acquire the skills, knowledge, and civic values needed to perpetuate American democracy. To meet these requirements, students should receive a type of education that actively engages them as citizens in their own schools and communities (ASCD, 2002).

Students can be highly involved in classroom decisions concerning class rules, curriculum, or assessment rubrics. Morning meetings, weekly class meetings, a classroom constitution, and a bill of rights and responsibilities are other examples. Involvement of students in democratic schools can go far beyond traditional student councils where participation in school decisions is limited to academic status and decisions concerning picnic menus or school dances. Globally, in many democratic schools, students help with school climate, school rules, scheduling, curriculum, budgeting, and hiring decisions. See: www.idec2003.org

Freedom to choose, learning without compulsion (IDEC Resolution, 2005)

In any educational setting, young people have the right to decide individually how, when, what, where and with whom they learn, to have an equal share in the decision-making as to how their organizations--in particular their schools--are run, and which rules and sanctions, if any, are necessary. This implies that students who are presently not “able” to decide, are provided experiences to foster the progressive development from a more dependent “stage” to this level of self-directed learning.

Aspects emphasize self-actualization, human rights, and environmental awareness (Hecht, 2002)

Democratic education views the purpose of learning as creating a developmental process, which accompanies people throughout their lifetime. Such a process promotes the multi-facet development of one’s personality, encourages independence and authenticity, fosters respect for human rights, and increases social and environmental responsibility.

Democratic schools (Education Revolution, 2000a)

This list includes schools, both public and private, which have described themselves as democratic, or have been described as democratic by researchers. Generally, these schools involve some or all of the characteristics noted below, although there is no exact definition or requirement for a democratic school (Education Revolution, 2008b):
• shared decision-making among the students and staff
• a learner-centered approach in which students choose their daily activities
• equality among staff and students
• the community as an extension of the classroom

There are currently 208 schools listed in 29 countries and 85 schools in 33 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.

Characteristics of teaching for democracy

Sleeter (2008) describes several key characteristics of teaching for democracy:
• students considering social issues in relationship to public good,
• students using democratic decision-making processes in the classroom,
• teachers embedding content in critical thinking about real issues,
• teachers engaging students in multiple perspectives and multiple sources of knowledge,
• schools affording all students access to high quality education, and
• students’ cultural and linguistic identities being supported and viewed as legitimate aspects of citizenship.

Thomas Jefferson and John Dewey: What does a democracy require of its public schools? (Bernard & Mondale, 2001; Smith, 2001a)

To understand the history of the development of democratic education in the U.S., a review of the ideas of Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) and John Dewey (1859-1952) are needed. In the early 1800s, Jefferson believed the survival of America’s budding democracy required the education of all citizens, with control by local communities, not the federal government. By teaching the correct political principles to the young, public schools for all could nurture virtuous citizenship. Literate citizens who knew the basics of democracy could better understand public issues, elected virtuous leaders, and sustain the delicate balance between liberty and order. Local control gave citizens a chance to practice self-rule.

John Dewey voiced a similar commitment to education in a democracy through an emphasis on political socialization and wise collective choices. Like Jefferson, Dewey recognized most Americans lacked knowledge of democratic processes. This limited democracy’s potential. Democracy is not just a political system in which governments elected by majority vote make decisions. It is a public democratic life defined by a certain kind of character: (1) a mutual regard for others; and (2) an ambition, through communication and deliberation, to make society both a greater unity and one that reflects the full diversity of people’s individual talents and aptitudes. To Dewey, public education is the fundamental method of social progress through which democratic character (social intelligence--individual activity-based community consciousness) is taught and experienced.

Education’s moral duty: Right social character (Smith, 2001b)

Here, education must be oriented toward the individual because it recognizes the formation of a certain social character (“sociability”) as the only genuine basis of right living. Yet this “right character” is not just about individuals, rather it concerns the influence of a certain form of institutional or community life upon the individual and that the social organism, through the school, may determine ethical results. The community’s duty to education is therefore its paramount moral duty.

Thus, students learn democracy by being members of a group or community that acts democratically. Through communication and participating in the process of deliberation, in classroom shared decision- making and school governance, students learn to view themselves as social beings with individual interests and a concern for the common good.

Through its public schools, a democratic society makes provisions for participation in the common good of all its members on equal terms. This secures flexible readjustment of its institutions through the interactions of the different forms of associated life.

Such a society must have a type of education which gives individuals a personal interest in social relationships and control, and the habits of mind which secure social changes without introducing disorder.

Education for democracy is education freed from authoritarian relationships

Public education fails when it neglects the fundamental principle of the school as a form of community life and education as a social process. School is more than a place where certain information is to be learned. When viewed democratically, school is a community in which communication and deliberation flourishes; thus, we consider the nature of relationships between student and student, students and teachers, and teacher and teacher. As Winch and Gingell (1999) note, if schools exist to promote democratic values it would appear that they need to remove hierarchy. Education for democracy thus becomes education freed from authoritarian relationships.

PART ONE: A REVIEW OF HISTORY

In their 1995 book, Democratic Schools, authors Michael Apple and James Beane list the following actions as examples of democratic practices in American public schools:

Pasadena, CA, 1937 Students share solution to community problems

Third graders study problems in their school, homes, neighborhoods, and community--they collect their recommendations in a booklet distributed throughout the community;

Baltimore, MD, 1953 Students do citizenship

High school students conduct a voter registration drive among ethnic minority residents, a study of housing relocation issue, and begin a community health campaign;

Port Jarvis, NY, 1972 Students share in school design decisions

Nearly 125 students, teachers, administrators, parents, board members, and community organizations meet to consider projects they might undertake to redesign their schools;

Ulysses, PA, 1979 School graffiti problems

At a weekly meeting, elementary students/teachers debate and vote on a new rule: anyone defacing school property will spend free time over 3 days working with the custodian;

Belvidere, IL, 1990 1st graders impact environment

Concerned about the size and contents of a local landfill, students undertake a campaign for conservation and recycling in their school;

Madison, WI, 1991 Student/teachers collaborate to create relevant curriculum

Middle school students/teachers create a curriculum out of their questions and concerns that arise in themes as "Living in the Future," "Problems in the Environment," and "Isms."

The development of American democracy: The efforts of citizens to make it genuine

The following is a review of the past century and the events and circumstances that inspired those demanding America live up to its Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights.

The women’s suffrage movement.

After 1910, progressive women’s rights efforts began to grow. The movement had women entering more of public life. The National Women’s Party was creating a female political culture led by politically savvy charismatic leaders. Between 1910 and 1917 the number of states giving women the right to vote grew from 4 to 11. In 1916 Montana elected the nation’s first woman to Congress (Women’s suffrage movement, n.d.).

World War I acted as a powerful catalyst for social change since it required people to break from their traditional gender roles. The necessity of the country to have people work and support the war effort brought women out of their homes and in more contact with the public, showing what they could do and their future potential.

Women became involved in many activities that substantiated and defended the idea of a woman’s right to vote. Women were members of local and national advisory groups in finance, manufacturing, social ills, all aspects of national and European war relief, education, and civil defense efforts.

One outstanding WW I group, the National League for Women’s Service (“The Woman Army”), was involved in every aspect of hospital work, entertaining soldiers, Red Cross/national disaster efforts, patriotism/propaganda, conservation, and home economics awareness (Stieber, n.d).

Although World War I did slow down the suffrage campaign in favor of "war work," this added yet another reason to why women deserved the vote (Oregon Sate Archives, n.d.).

America’s dilemma: Democracy or hypocrisy?

The women’s suffrage movement was the obvious way to test America’s promise of equality and freedom under law for all citizens. This laid the groundwork for the many rights movements that followed

The “Rights” Movements: How returning soldiers challenged America to live up to its promises

A review of American history since 1900 reveals a relationship between (a) the limitations of America’s promise of “All men/ women are created equal” with its manifestation in equal rights and justice under law, and (b) the experiences of soldiers and personnel.

Many members of so-called minority groups risked their lives and culture in war defending an America where they were treated unjustly. Yet, these experiences provided the rationale to challenge these limitations. Re-experiencing discrimination after returning home from defending America in war against totalitarian regimes made it a duty to expose the moral hypocrisies in American culture.

Also, a major part of the American push for social justice was indirectly due to the foreign policies and the rhetoric of democracy that supported them. This put America in the political global spotlight and thus a scrutiny by a world audience. This pressured American leaders to “practice what they preached.”

WW I (1914-1918). During WW I approximately 371,000 black Americans were involved. 200,000 fought in Europe. After WW I, many African Americans returned to the US to find the prejudice and discrimination, which they did not experience in Europe, still prevalent in the north and the Jim Crow south.

In 1941, due to economics, the growth of the US armed forces, and pressure from the government, the country’s defense industries where opened to black workers.

WW II (1939-1945). A total 1,000,000 Black Americans were in WW II, with 500,000 stationed overseas. Aware of their contributions to the war effort in WW II, many Black Americans became restless. As they listened to patriotic songs and speeches about freedom for all, they became determined to make these ideas truly meaningful for themselves.

In 1946, President Truman moved to strengthen civil rights laws and integrated the armed forces. This provoked a storm of criticism from the South, but Truman refused to compromise, saying: Yes, my forebears were Confederates. . . . But my very stomach turned over when I had learned that Negro soldiers, just back from overseas, were being dumped out of Army trucks in Mississippi and beaten (“Harry S. Truman,” 2008).

Korean War (1950-1953). In 1950 almost 100,000 African-Americans were on active duty. By 1953, over 600,000 had served in the military. Over 5,000 African-Americans died in that conflict.

Anti-communist s8ituations in Cuba, the Congo (1960) and Dominican Republic (1965) most likely required black intelligence officers and soldiers.

Vietnam (1962-1972). Of all the men and women who served, 275,000, or 10.6%, were black. At the time, blacks represented 12.5% of the U.S. population (Smith, 1996). It can be inferred that the experiences of armed service men and women before, during, and after Korea influenced Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), and those in Vietnam influenced the passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1968. Their experiences also brought political support for Martin Luther King, Caesar Chavez, the American Indian Movement (AIM), and the women’s rights movement.

26th Amendment. Throughout most of American history 18-year-olds could join the armed forces, but could not vote until they were 21. During the Vietnam War this glaring inconsistency stood out because there was a draft and the war was unpopular. In 1971, the 26th Amendment was signed by President Nixon.

Persian Gulf War. (August 1990-February 1991) Out of the combined U. S. and international forces came 400,000 American men and women, and, among them, 113,000 African Americans (Sylvester, 1995).

The Iraq War. Current figures are not available on those exactly involved. Government figures do say almost 78% of the active component enlistment are Caucasian for Fiscal Year 2005 (United States Department of Defense, 2005).

2000-2099: Democracy’s Century?

Democracy reform in the United States has taken on a renewed, urgent focus as presidential, congressional and state elections become increasingly hard-fought and closely decided. From basic concerns about election procedures to fundamental questions about full and equal representation, political leaders and the American people are engaged in a national dialogue about the health of American democracy not seen in a generation or more.

With the current global politics and wars, both civil and national, around democratization, plus the struggles of developing new democracies and national pro-democracy movements, the start of the 21st century is filled with individual, household, community, local and national conversations and debate about the potential of open and free democratic governments. In light of what is presented here, if this momentum continues, the world community will engage and judge, in a daily global experiment with democracy, to see if various democratic forms of government can live up their possibilities--and in particular--will watch to see if a nation such as America lives up to its democratic potential.

How will Middle East War veterans see America and will this mean a more democratic society?

It is a substantial argument of this paper that the same rationale used by past US servicepersons--that there is a gap between American rhetoric and reality--to justify lobbying for significant changes in society in order to make America more authentic will, in “Democracy’s century,” be used to influence all Americans to be open to a better quality democracy—one so compelling even the children will want to try it!

What is potentially different about these veterans is the fact that many personnel are citizens in the National Guard, not professional soldiers. The Iraqi (and Gulf ) War vets, returning to their jobs and families, whose children attend public schools, will be open to seriously considering democratic education if approached. They may not necessarily be for democratic schools, but will not be against a pro-democracy movement in public schools either. How could they be? This is especially the case if they view:
• US/their efforts in Iraq as “a cause” to spread democracy to that country and the Middle-East
• Iraqi schools as places for children to be exposed to democracy’s potential
• what has been going on since the early 1990s in regard to democratic education

The growth in the number of more democratic public schools and instances of shared decision-making in classrooms, plus the international development at the public and private levels--illustrated by the now 15 annual International Democratic Education Conferences (IDECs, see: www.idec2008.org) and the new regional in IDECs in Europe and Asia--will be influential. This momentum is illustrated by US organizations listed in this paper (League of Democratic Schools, CIRCLE, Forum for Democracy in Education, First Amendment Schools, etc., and the push to lower the voting age to 16 (Ferguson, 2004; Weiser, 2004; Kamenetz, 2008) will each combine to offer a rationale for veterans to consider democratic education when asked for their support.

Democracy’s like a life raft. You’re constantly going up and down. Your feet are always wet.

You may never know where you’re going, but you never sink.
— General Colin Powell
It’s all about democracy: Being continually genuine

Democracy is not a goal, it is a path. Democracy must constantly be reworked and improved upon. Middle-East war veterans know they defended American democracy and wished to share it with others. Thus, they know they must provide opportunities for their children, or their neighbor’s and co-worker’s children, to practice this ideal progressively by age and grade in their own public schools, carrying forward President Thomas Jefferson’s dream that public education be education for democracy. In “Democracy’s Century” democratic pubic schools and classrooms will provide the means for American democracy to be continually more genuine.

HISTORY: INDIVIDUALS

Arthurdale Schools: Elsie Clapp and progressive education in the 1930s

Arthurdale, West Virginia, was created by New Deal policymakers in the mide-1930s as a “resettlement community for displaced coal miners.” Its schools (1934-1941) were a landmark in efforts to bring Deweyan ideals of progressive education to bear on community life. Community-centered pedagogy was central to school leader Elsie Clapp’s progressive notions of child-centeredness, activity, and “culture community” which she professed fostered learning and citizen involvement (Perlstein, 1996).

Education as if citizenship mattered: Covello and Franklin High School (Johanek & Puckett, 2006)

What might schools look like if citizenship mattered as much as reading and math? Dr. Leonard Covello (1887-1982) founded Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem, where he lived, in 1934. Influenced by social activists and his own immigrant experiences, Covello saw public schools as best situated to be centers for democratic education. Having direct contact with the community, they should cultivate a spirit of friendliness and intelligent cooperation. Like his contemporary Paul Robert Hanna (Stallones, n.d.) who in 1936 wrote the classic Youth Serves the Community, Covello wanted students to graduate with the willing-ness and capability to be change agents for a just and humane society. This promoted local democratic processes, cultivating a richer citizen participation in resolving intercultural conflicts among immigrants.

Through Covello’s idea of “community-centered schooling” Franklin became a force for revitalization of the community in east Harlem. At Franklin, students studied and helped solve neighborhood problems. Teachers were dedicated to civic activism for democratic ends.

Covello left in 1956. Franklin became the Manhattan Center for Science and Math in the early 1980s.

For more on Dr. Covello see: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=leonard+covello+democratic.
View the October, 14 1940 Time Magazine article mentioning Ben Franklin High “Lessons for Democrats”
See: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764836,00.html?promoid=googlep

Vito Perrone and the Struggle for Democratic Schools (Carini, 2005).

Vito Perrone (1933- ) is an educator who taught at Northern Michigan University, the University of North Dakota, and Harvard Graduate School of Education. Influenced by Leonard Covello, he professes similar views about the role of education.

Perrone believes any educational practice needs to be assessed against its ability to contribute to building a society in which all members have increasing opportunity to participate fully in social and economic life, and in which every individual is better able to realize his or her potential within a socially interactive community. That education is about community, democracy, and concern for the well being of all humanity is what makes Perrone's vision and leadership so powerful. See his 1999, Lessons for a New Teacher, published by McGraw-Hill (ISBN-10: 0072324465).

Grace H. Pilon’s Workshop Way: Self-managed learning and democratic schools (Thweatt, n.d.)

Starting in 1927 and over the next 40 years, K-8 educator Grace Pilon developed the concept of “The Workshop Way.” During the 1960s she refined the approach. Through other teachers, conferences, and universities, the word spread.

Through her observations she became interested in the attention spans of little children. Some children consistently finishing their work “on time” and were satisfied daily. There were others, however, who consistently became frustrated because they never had enough time to finish. It seemed to her that classroom living was a cruel way of life for too many children. Pilon loved children and dropped classroom approaches that hurt a child’s nature.

Self-management of learning: Students do more of the talking, modeling, and decision-making

Pilon’s response was to give 100% of students the right to be the active agents in the learning process, then the immediate mastery of knowledge skills cannot depend upon right answers. It must depend on an environment that provides equal opportunities to manage the same experiences in different ways.

Subject matter is not individualized. It is the way and the time for learning to learn and learning to think that are individualized. Students feel their worth as learners and thinkers and begin to believe in themselves.

In the Workshop Way, where the growth of worth and dignity is primary, students develop feelings of importance and intelligence, and experience the power of managing their own learning. Workshop Way develops in the student a strong self-concept, a comfortable sense of inner self-direction and self-discipline, and an internalized respect for the rights of others while exercising their freedom of choice.

Workshop Way: Self-managed learning leads to critical consciousness

Pilon developed a system that goes beyond rhetoric and gives teachers a step-by-step plan to bring about change in their individual classroom. Her Workshop Way, based on democratic foundations, helps build thinking individuals who are liberated from unhealthy fears of failure. This provides access to equal opportunities for whole person growth. Here students develop the critical consciousness which will result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. These students will be prepared to challenge the status quo and become the active adult citizens of tomorrow (Pilon, 1991).

The National Association of WW Educators was established in 1977. In 1990, WW Inc. was formed. See: www.workshopway.com/timeline

Dennie Briggs and the Val Verde Project: Creating and growing learning communities

During the summer of 1965, one of the first demonstration projects funded under President Johnson’s War on Poverty provided the means to temporarily change the traditional structure of a public elementary school. The Val Verde Project worked with 200 economically disadvantaged children in grades Pre-K to 6th, mainly Black and Latino students/families living in a rural area of Riverside County in Southern California (The Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre, 2005).

The project was coordinated by Dennie Briggs, who brought his experiences as a former prison and Navy therapist and the influences of the “social learning” concept of Maxwell Jones. The staff was a team of elementary teachers. School dropouts, college students, and parents who were all trained as teacher aides.

The focal point of the project was the daily staff “seminar” meeting. These leaderless sessions set norms/standards, handled conflicts, and reviewed and planned the individual, classroom, and daily school activities.

What is relevant here is that the project continually questioned the inherent and underlying matter of authority and its use (or abuse) in the teaching situation. This was manifested in the concept of a “Learning Community.” This was a group with a family-like atmosphere where all members have a say, and all members have something to learn and teach others. This climate came in the form of: (1) a non-hieratical or “multiple leadership” orientation, (2) cooperative learning and peer tutoring, (3) daily classroom meetings/peer discussion groups which shared in decision-making, and (4) classroom peer-oriented meetings where problems were talked out--turning conflicts into learning experiences.

Although the school did not continue, the program did show the importance of para-professionals, and linking school and community. With the program being voluntary, attendance was considered “spectacular.” The school had less behavior problems than regular public schools according to the evaluations.

Briggs went on to promote peer tutoring (See his: A Class of Their Own: When Children Teach Children 1998 Bergin & Garvey Paperback) and influenced educators to turn student-student conflicts into learning experiences. He created the Youth Action Teams concept, an organized way to develop and carry out projects, large or small, using a program development model which the Planned Environment Therapy Trust Archive and Study Centre promotes at the international level. See: www.pettarchiv.org.uk/pubs-dbriggs-inschool4.pdf for his 2004 Youth Action Teams guidebook.

OTHER ACTIVITIES: 1950-2008

Youth who challenged America to live up to its promises

As well as adults, youth, particularly in the 20th century, have been strongly involved in civil rights, student and gay rights, and environmental activism.
Barbara Johns: Teens help initiate US civil rights movement ("Barbara Rose Johns," 2008)

Barbara Rose Johns was born in 1935. She lived in Prince Edward County, Virginia, on a farm. Barbara’s uncle was the prominent civil rights activist Reverend Vernon Johns whose outspokenness influenced her.

In 1951, 16 year-old Barbara was in the 10th grade at the all-black Moton High School in Farmville, VA. Across town was another school open exclusively to white schoolchildren. Barbara’s school was designed and built to hold roughly 200 students, but in 1951 400 were enrolled. Frustrated with the separate and highly unequal facilities, Barbara decided to do something.

Organizing against “separate and equal”

Ms. Johns met with several classmates and they all agreed to help organize a student strike. The principal of the school was tricked into leaving by being told that some students were downtown causing trouble. Meanwhile, she forged a memo from Moton’s principal telling all teachers to bring their classes to a special assembly. Here, she delivered a speech revealing her plans for a student strike. The students agreed to participate, and on that day they marched down to the county courthouse to make officials aware of the large difference in quality between the white and black schools.

While the strike was being carried out, the students sought legal counsel from the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) which filed against the school district; but, that case failed. The NAACP’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in Davis v. Prince Edward County, along with four others cases, became part of Brown v. Board of Education.

Youth Activism Overlooked

As Davis was the only case in Brown initiated by student protest, it is seen by some as the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Barbara Johns' contribution to civil rights is often overlooked due to the fact that she was a teenager when she made a difference.

Other student protests: Walk outs, boycotts, strikes, sit-in’s, demonstrations, and rallies

The history of student voice and student political/social activism, which is encouraged by a climate of democracy, is as old as America’s public schools. Students of the history may have to infer the many individual and group writings, publications, and actions that may not have made the news as the following small event did. On September 23, 1922 many students at Mineola (Long Island, NY) High School walked out of school to show support for their senior class president who was suspended over a disagreement concerning her absence from that day’s study hall (Mineola High School Students Strike, 1922).

African American young people led boycotts, freedom rides, voter registration drives and rallies across the south. African American high school students sacrificed their safety and often disobeyed their parent’s wishes as they engaged in civil disobedience, filling the jails with their young bodies (Cohen, 2006).

A review of the events reveals that most student civic action was a product of efforts by students to make America live up to its promises of equal opportunity and equality under the law centering around faculty, textbooks, curriculum, dress codes/arm bans, funding, and facilities of the civil right era.

In 1966 students at Northern High in Detroit called a general strike to protest the future of urban schools and demand better learning opportunities (Bernard & Mondale, 2001).

In the fall of 1968 approximately 30,000 African American and Latino/a students started sustained boycotts to protest the quality of education (Bernard & Mondale, 2001). Protesting the lack of Black history courses, black teachers and administrators, and poor quality facilities, black high schools in Chicago walked out of school (Danns, 2003). High school student activism by Chicano students in the Los Angeles area in 1968 (Ochoa, 2008) led to subsequent rebellions and trials (Lopez, 2003). On Friday, April 5, 1968, the day following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 250 African American students at William Penn Senior High School, also known as "York High," in York, Pennsylvania, refused to attend class. Instead the students quietly barricaded themselves in the auditorium of the school to commence Black Pride Day (Wright, 2003). See the film Walkout: Reading. Writing. Revolution. (www.hbo.com/films/walkout/) based on the East L.A. student protests of 1968.

The famous 1969 Crystal City, TX student boycott over lack of Mexican-American teachers, culturally relevant textbooks, and excessive pressure on students to “Americanize” grew to over 200 walk-outs across the nation. This led to the community organizing and winning 4 seats on the Crystal City school board in 1970 (Bernard & Mondale, 2001).

Youth activism today: The legacy continues: MySpace, blogging, “buycotting,” text messaging

But no matter how important young African Americans proved to be to the Civil Rights Movement, they have been equally active and instrumental in other movements and politics. Whether it is the Black Power movement, the Anti-apartheid movement, or the organized mobilization against mass incarceration, African American youth have been and continue to be at the center of these efforts, providing leadership, analysis, and energy (Cohen, 2006).

On May 15, 1994 San Francisco Bay Area High School Students held a strike in support of Chicano Studies. See www.rwor.org/a/rwindex/text/rw1994.htm

At the RadFest 2003 Midwest Social Forum in the workshop “High School Student Activism” 6 students covered their efforts organizing for social and political change in Wisconsin involving rallies, teach-ins, debates, vigils, walkouts, and student strikes. See www.radfest.org/archives/radfest03/program03.htm

June 6, 2003 was the day Portland Oregon high school students took to the streets, occupying City Hall. The strike was a response to the failure of the legislature to pass Measure 28 which promised significant money for public schools. This strike resulted from a walk-out in December of 2002, a sleep-in at Lincoln High School in January of ‘03, and their recent visit to the state capitol of Salem to lobby the legislature. See portland.indymedia.org/en/feature/archive68.shtml

For an allover review of student voice see Young Activists (Graham, 2006), a look back at the social unrest and reform movements of the 1960s. The book specifically examines high schools in America and how they were shaped by these turbulent times. Graham also explores how students of this era actively helped further the change with their involvement in issues such as the Civil Rights Movement, racial segregation/integration, Black power/Brown power, anti-war, dress codes, arm bans, student rights, and underground newspapers.

Today’s student protesters rally against high stakes testing, locker/personal searches, and the war in Iraq. Youth activism with respect to the environment (Buffett, n.d.) or global alternative energy sources (www.solaryouth.com), student unions (www.phillystudentunion.org), and protests against restrictive dress codes (Pesa, 2006) are notable.

Recent high school student walk outs on immigration used “MySpace” and text messaging to self- organize. Students are also engaging in new forms of politics: blogging, “buycotting” (not buying certain items to protest i.e. child labor), or making purchases because one agrees with the politics and social values of the company producing the good (Cohen, 2006).

The contributions of the Alternative Education Movement to democratic education in public schools

In the early late 60’s to early 70’s, in an effort to improve public education, some public school educators began to try smaller schools, learning options, individualization, and having students and parents share in creating their school’s vision and in other decision-making processes (MAEO, 1995; Barr & Parrott, 1997; Smink, 1998). In many ways this is what made them so different from the traditional public schools.

These schools (along with the ideas and philosophy from the Southern freedom schools, Black independent schools, private free schools, and urban storefront street academies) were studied and promoted as “alternative” schools. As a result of this challenge to the “one best system” professional educators learned that children and their parents were capable of making decisions about how and what they learned, and other important school decisions when given the respect and opportunity. The concepts of magnet schools, charters schools, and the current small schools movement are the legacy of these courageous innovators and their non-traditional school climates (Neumann, 2003).

The 70s alternative education movement also gave new impetus to the Thomas Jefferson/John Dewey inspired democratic purposes of public education. Many of today’s educators, classrooms, schools, and civic education curricula, as well as democratic education and civic education organizations and programs are influenced by the re-birth of democratic practices involving all stakeholders—practices originally initiated and promoted by alternative public schools of choice.

Alternative school checklists that endorse school/classroom democracy

Currently there are four national-class alternative school checklists that endorse shared decision-making with students as a factor in determining the authenticity and the effectiveness of public alternatives of choice. These checklists infer the inherent limitations of the current non-democratic “soft jails” (Raywid, 1994) alternatives where “at-risk” students attend involuntarily:

1. John Harris Loflin’s “Pseudo-alternative School Checklist” www.educationrevolution.org/pseudo.html
2. Dr. Ray Morley’s “Checklist of Quality Indicators” www.learningalternatives.net/Quality_Indicators.pdf
3. Seattle’s “Quality Indicators for Alternative Schools” from Elaine Packard’s alternative education study committee www.learningalternatives.net/Seattle_alt_ed_survey.pdf
4. National Dropout Prevention Center’s “Essential Elements of Effective Alternative Schools: Type I” http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart/PDF/NDPCReportFinal.pdf.


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