democracy – Page 5 – Adam F.C. Fletcher

Hope and the Moral Dimensions of Teaching

“The schools are failing, the schools are failing!” Empty rhetoric about public education keeps filling newspapers here in Washington state and across the country. For more than a decade, or a hundred years depending on how you count, detractors and retractors, extractors and segregationists have been claiming that the cornerstone of American democracy and culturalContinue reading “Hope and the Moral Dimensions of Teaching”

“Youth Voice” Isn’t Enough to Stop Youth Disengagement

Youth voice is not enough. Adults working to build communities with young people have learned that it is important to engage youth as self-advocates and peer teachers, community culture monitors, and youth organization cheerleaders. As youth organizations become more savvy, more youth are being effectively taught to challenge themselves, working with their peers to createContinue reading ““Youth Voice” Isn’t Enough to Stop Youth Disengagement”

The Pedagogy of Privatism

This is the last I am going to write about charter schools for the time being. Earlier this month I wrote that “Charter schools are destroying democracy“; in 2009, I suggested that schools be “Public or nothing at all“; and in 2007, I compared charters to the nefarious Blackwater Corporation. With this post, I think I’ve saidContinue reading “The Pedagogy of Privatism”