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from Natural Life magazine,
November/December 2008 You can barely open a newspaper these days without being inundated with cries for various reforms and innovations aimed at curing what ails our public education system. There are obviously many passionately committed souls out there who care deeply about children and who are willing to do whatever it takes to provide the nurture and support they need to grow up into good human beings and lifelong learners. But what is it that actually “ails” public education, and what is it that children really need from us? In all the discussions about vouchers, charter schools and higher standards, I never hear anything about what I have come to believe is the one proposal that would do the most to improve the quality, integrity, effectiveness and democratic character of our current system.
Can one change really make that much of a difference? In the book The Predictable Failure of Educational Reform: Can We Change Course Before It's Too Late , psychologist and educator Seymour Sarason invites readers to imagine a situation where we are empowered to initiate one change, and only one, in a school system. The only restriction is that the change cannot cost discernibly more money than is now available. “On what basis should your decision rest? Obviously, you will seek that change which, if appropriately implemented, (quite an assumption!) will have over time desirable percolating effects on other problems in other parts of the system. The important point is that you do not choose a change because it addresses an important problem – of which there are many – but because what you seek to change is so embedded in a system of interacting parts that if it is changed, then changes elsewhere are likely to occur.” The proposal I am making is one that meets Sarason’s criteria of having a long-term and far-reaching percolating effect at no additional cost. Imagine what would happen if our current compulsory school attendance laws were simply rescinded? This legal change would ... To read the rest of this article, subscribe to Natural Life's digital edition, which includes access to this and other back issues. Jim Strickland is a community-based educator in Marysville, Washington. He says that if he could focus all of his energy on one issue that he believes would have the greatest long-term impact on moving our world in the right direction, it would be to abolish compulsory schooling. He invites response from readers who are interested in raising public awareness and inviting political action. He can be reached by email at livedemocracy@hotmail.com. |
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