Take Back our Schools. Hmmm. What Would that Look Like?
It would look like all who would call themselves educators taking the Socratic Oath.
Adults who care about children need to give to the system what is the system’s and to the child what is the child’s. School systems are bound by their systemness. Devotion to standards, measurable outcomes, public accountability and so on are necessary cornerstones of a public system committed to serving all the people. Arguments about the shape of those cornerstones are distractions from conversations by parents and teachers in the business of taking back schools to serve the needs of each individual child.
In my Children’s Bill of Rights children have a right to be treated as if they are already—by age 5—experienced authors, storytellers, researchers, problem-solvers, inventors, scientists, artists, athletes, friends and collaborators. This is what it means to respect their humanity.
Education is creating the conditions that will bring out, develop, discipline, and focus these natural tendencies to