Who should #occupytheclassroom?
I think we, the teachers, have to bare some blame for setting the conditions that led to the Occupy movement. Too many of us (and as radical as I try to be in the classroom, I fall far short of where I need to be) are the gatekeepers of knowledge, the sole determiners of success and failure, and hold monopolies on the administration of justice. In our classrooms, far too many of us are the 1%.
Let me start with a confession: I find most protests dumb. I’ve been to a few in my time. I believe I was at the first protest against George W. Bush’s election in 2000 in the country (and ended up getting my first byline for that one). I marched with millions at the 2004 Republican Convention. I’ve been to more UFT marches than I could list. At every one, I’ve felt stupid. There’s lots of people shouting, but no one listening. The good protests got a story in the paper the next day, and were then forgotten.
I find most protests stupid in part because there is no risk involved. Marches in the Civil Rights Movement and against the Vietnam War, which until September 17 have provided the dominant template for most American
