Before getting to the next section in the Variety of Democratic Education that I’ve been writing about, I wanted to mention a thought I had about terminology.
At first (tracing my thinking over the past months and even years – this dialogue goes back years) I was slightly uncomfortable defining democratic education as something broader than the definition used by the democratic schools I wrote about recently, which generally define democratic education as an approach in which students direct their own learning and where all school decisions are made democratically with equal voice for students and staff. My first teaching job was at a democratic school, Albany Free School in upstate New York, and I still believe strongly in the practices of democratic schools and that young people deserve to direct their own learning.
Gradually, though, I came to realize that we cannot expect everyone to be “there” in terms of fully accepting the approach of a democratic school, no matter how right and natural it may seem to some of us working in and very familiar with this approach. We must realize that the large majority of people have gone through very conventional forms of education and may never have heard about anything else. This does not mean that people cannot change to understand and support democratic schools and related approaches, and in fact based on personal experience I know that after conversations and direct experience observing these schools, many people can and do become strong supporters.
But it does tell me that it might be wise to use a broader definition of democratic education that more people can find accessible and which stays true to the core of democratic schools while also being more inclusive to other ways in which to implement human rights and democratic values in education. Moreover, we will find more allies, collaborators, and openings to advance democratic education if we broaden the possibilities of what democratic education is in practice.
Therefore, I’ve been thinking about using the term democratic school movement to refer specifically to democratic schools like Albany Free School, Village Free School, Tokyo Shure and others, and use the broader term democratic education to describe over-riding pedagogical principles and practices that can be applied in many ways – in the democratic school movement, in great schools that don’t use the word “democratic,” by teachers running courageous student-centered programs in conventional schools around the country, by non-profit organizations, and more.
What I also like about “Democratic Education” is that the political nature of the term immediately connects our work in education to like-minded struggles in other sectors where people are working to bring the values of a democracy (freedom, equity, participation, responsibility, justice) into their realms, including the women’s rights movement, the labor movement, the peace and non-violence network, the struggle to expand health care coverage, the youth rights movement, gay and lesbian rights work, groups working against racial injustice, and the movement for environmental sustainability, among others. We can find many more potential partners by connecting with these groups and other like-minded individuals, and working with them to create a more just, peaceful, democratic, and sustainable society.