Latest News and Comment from Education

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

New Orleans Liberation Academy: Values, Attitudes and Capacities for Democratic Citizenship

New Orleans Liberation Academy: Values, Attitudes and Capacities for Democratic Citizenship:

Values, Attitudes and Capacities for Democratic Citizenship

As we prepare to begin our first school year at New Orleans Liberation Academy we wonder what this journey will bring. We are also spending time reflecting a lot on what it means to learn and grow in a "Democratic Community" and considering what it means right now for our students to be "Democratic Citizens" and working to understand what our role as educators will be in helping them to develop values, attitudes and capacities they'll need to find success in the 21st Century.

In engaging in this type of personal reflection while reaching out to our allies in democratic schools around the country, we were reminded of some work by David Sehr (Social Studies Teacher at West Orange High School in West Orange, New Jersey) in his 1997 book (part of a series on “Democracy and Education” edited by the