On Friday June 26, 2020, The Quest for a Just Society petition was launched at the virtual conference of the Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO). The AERO conference made an appropriate venue to launch the petition. For more than three decades, it has been bringing together people from around the world who believe children are natural born learners who do best when they direct their own learning. These people dream of an education revolution, and with today’s pandemic, social unrest, and heightened concern over the wellness of children and youth the need for an education revolution has never been more evident.
It is widely believed that education has not kept pace with the times. Scathing indictments of school as we know it go back decades, as have visions of how to make it relevant, yet it remains virtually unchanged. A reason given for why environmental groups have not been more effective at getting their concerns addressed is that they have remained too disconnected and the same is true of advocates for self-directed learning – SDL. They are too busy doing their own thing that they fail to keep an eye on the bigger picture. To become a force for change, they need to unite and this is the primary function of the petition. It is a way for all those who believe in self-directed learning to raise their hands and be counted. It is an opportunity for the advocates of SDL to convey to the world that they are more than scattered fringe groups. That is Purpose #1 of the following list of purposes for the petition.
Purposes of the petition:
- to show that we are significant in numbers
- to convey the message that subjecting young people to authoritarian rule in competitive environments for 12 of their most formative years is a violation of human rights and not in our best interests
- to provide the disciples of SDL with a simple conversation starter
- to provide these disciples with an excuse to reach out to people personally to build awareness of the benefits to SDL and how to implement it
- to have the UN reconsider its wording for its Sustainability Development Goal #4 – Quality Education
Notice that the message to the UN, which is the stated recipient of the petition is at the bottom of the priority list. The UN symbolizes human rights, so it is seen as a good place to direct it. Subjecting children and youth to traditional education is viewed as a human rights issue, but it is not what the UN does with the petition that matters. Rather, it is what everyone does with it that will make the difference.
Origins of the Petition
The petition stems from belief in the idea that Carol Black describes on the website for the documentary film Schooling the World.
“If you want to change a culture in a single generation, how would you do it? You would change how it educates its children.”
Abraham Lincoln expressed the idea saying:
“The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.”
The petition is to be seen as a tool for the work of convincing everyone concerned with social and environmental justice that to leave unchanged what is being done to children and youth in our schools makes their work harder and the gains they make fragile.
The petition also stems from what John Gatto says in Dumbing Us Down:
“It is the great triumph of compulsory government monopoly mass-schooling that among even the best of my fellow teachers, and among even the best of my students’ parents, only a small number can imagine a different way to do things.”
The petition also provides a tool to help with the task of stretching the imaginations of people who have only experienced traditional education.
With the pandemic and social injustices disrupting life throughout the world at this time, it is seen as the time to seize the day. People are being urged not to drop the ball. There is concern that time is running out. Future generations may not be able to pick it up.
People are being asked to:
Sign the petition!
Talk it up!
Carpe Diem
URL for petition: https://www.change.org/quest4justsociety
Unless alt ed, home schoolers, free schoolers and democratic schools bring a critical race lens to their learning, it’s likely youth will continue to grow up with unexplored beliefs about race and privilege.
Where on the current AERO roster of workshops, panels and keynotes is there a reflection of the youth-led BLM movement happening on our streets every day? I couldn’t find any mention of antiracism, white privilege workshops, or connection between democratic schooling and the current movement for racial justice.
There’s a huge disconnect. This petition is called Petition for a Just Society. I heard a teen at a previous AERO conference say things showing no understanding of structural racism, such as “I understand the Me Too Movement, but BLM is terrible- all lives matter.” This teen had attended one of the most well known democratic schools represented at the conference, for years.
AERO’s newsletter posted a link to an article in Townhall.com supporting the homeschooling movement. Townhall is a conservative newspaper that runs articles and Op Eds like this one (6/29/20): Make No Mistake, ‘Black Lives Matter’ Wants To ‘Burn Down’ Western Civilization And Replace It With A Communist/Socialist Hellscape. If AERO’s leadership and conference workshop presenters aren’t addressing racism, why choose it as a launching place for this petition? Further, what about articulating some goals about critical pedagogy and antiracist education into the petition?? White silence perpetuates racial violence.
Hello Nicole,
I think we are on the same page. I advocate for the decolonisation of schools as described by Je’anna Clements in her article found here: http://www.ucyottawa.com/2020/07/28/decolonisation/. Also the concerns that unite the directors and advisors of Uniting for Children and Youth (UCY) are equity, inclusion and youth agency.
I was the primary author of the Quest for a Just Society petition and I assure you that Black Lives Matter was on my mind and those who provided input. A first draft of the petition referred to George Floyd and how our school systems are incubators of discrimination. We heard that some people associated with Black Lives Matter were upset with others who appeared to be using the murder of George to advance their own agendas. Upon hearing this, reference to him and Black Lives Matter was removed with the hope that people would understand that the petition is fundamentally about striving for equality. The message it is intended to convey is that the foundation of a just society is formed by treating children and youth as equals.
I appreciate that you make your voice heard,
Richard
Absolute agreement with the petition; it is a wonderful step towards democratizing education!