Transforming Our Important Public Institutions
The institutions created by our society need to serve the people of our society. When they don't, we need to use our voices to transform these institutions and reclaim their central purpose. One of these vital institutions is public education. This month we share highlights from a national convening the Center hosted on public education and describe the positive role and narrative of education emerging from the voices of educators and journalists engaged in this dialogue. We also profile storytelling/storymaking as an important tool for social transformation. ~ Dale Nienow
The institutions created by our society need to serve the people of our society. When they don't, we need to use our voices to transform these institutions and reclaim their central purpose. One of these vital institutions is public education. This month we share highlights from a national convening the Center hosted on public education and describe the positive role and narrative of education emerging from the voices of educators and journalists engaged in this dialogue. We also profile storytelling/storymaking as an important tool for social transformation. ~ Dale Nienow
What is the Role of Public Education in Our Society?
We hear a lot of negative commentary in the media about our public education system. “We have lots of bad teachers.” “Unions don’t want to make any changes and prevent school reform.” “Schools waste money.” “Schools are failing to educate kids for the job market.” “Teachers are unaccountable.” “Public pensions cost too much, particularly in tough economic times.”
With this constant messaging, it is easy to believe that public education is a complete failure and that the only way to save it is to fire more teachers, increase accountability, or privatize public education through vouchers. In the midst of all of this anxiety, what role do we want to claim for public education in our society?
Americans are increasingly concerned about their place in the world. They view quality public education as a way to be globally competitive. In this view, the role of education is to prepare students for college and careers. While preparing young people to participate in our economic system is an important role, it is not sufficient. We need public education to prepare people to be citizens capable of engaging the world. Education is vital for democracy to work. Because of the challenges we face, the inadequacies of our government and economic institutions, and the great anxiety we feel about our future, the need for informed citizenry is going up. We need to able to hold the complexity of our challenges, construct ideas together, and work toward creative solutions, not rely on simplistic and inadequate sound bites. This requires a different public engagement, where each voice matters and we can hold the creative tension of differing and competing ideas.
Adding to this is the need to work with communities of color and those living in poverty, as they are most often the ones left behind by our society and public education. In this role, public education offers liberation from the limits of discrimination and marginalization. It offers a way into sharing the opportunities and benefits of society. As Central Texas educator Monica Valadez suggests, “Education is a positive tool, a powerful possibility born out of the power of human spirit. We need to raise the consciousness and possibility of transformation in society.”
What then is the new narrative that will support public education?
We need to claim a central role for public schools. Public education is foundational to a healthy democracy and developing our humanity. It should help students to not only engage in the public decision-making and economic systems, but transform these systems to work for the entire society. Public education requires the whole community – we all have a role. As a community, we need to respect teachers, honor their professionalism, and support the development of their skills in pedagogy. Schools need to create space for relationships and community collaboration. We need multiple solutions created within the local context. And we need to acknowledge that we are not manufacturing products, we are creating the conditions for kids to grow and develop. This is a hopeful narrative for a hopeful future.
We hear a lot of negative commentary in the media about our public education system. “We have lots of bad teachers.” “Unions don’t want to make any changes and prevent school reform.” “Schools waste money.” “Schools are failing to educate kids for the job market.” “Teachers are unaccountable.” “Public pensions cost too much, particularly in tough economic times.”
With this constant messaging, it is easy to believe that public education is a complete failure and that the only way to save it is to fire more teachers, increase accountability, or privatize public education through vouchers. In the midst of all of this anxiety, what role do we want to claim for public education in our society?
Americans are increasingly concerned about their place in the world. They view quality public education as a way to be globally competitive. In this view, the role of education is to prepare students for college and careers. While preparing young people to participate in our economic system is an important role, it is not sufficient. We need public education to prepare people to be citizens capable of engaging the world. Education is vital for democracy to work. Because of the challenges we face, the inadequacies of our government and economic institutions, and the great anxiety we feel about our future, the need for informed citizenry is going up. We need to able to hold the complexity of our challenges, construct ideas together, and work toward creative solutions, not rely on simplistic and inadequate sound bites. This requires a different public engagement, where each voice matters and we can hold the creative tension of differing and competing ideas.
Adding to this is the need to work with communities of color and those living in poverty, as they are most often the ones left behind by our society and public education. In this role, public education offers liberation from the limits of discrimination and marginalization. It offers a way into sharing the opportunities and benefits of society. As Central Texas educator Monica Valadez suggests, “Education is a positive tool, a powerful possibility born out of the power of human spirit. We need to raise the consciousness and possibility of transformation in society.”
What then is the new narrative that will support public education?
We need to claim a central role for public schools. Public education is foundational to a healthy democracy and developing our humanity. It should help students to not only engage in the public decision-making and economic systems, but transform these systems to work for the entire society. Public education requires the whole community – we all have a role. As a community, we need to respect teachers, honor their professionalism, and support the development of their skills in pedagogy. Schools need to create space for relationships and community collaboration. We need multiple solutions created within the local context. And we need to acknowledge that we are not manufacturing products, we are creating the conditions for kids to grow and develop. This is a hopeful narrative for a hopeful future.
The Center Creates Space for Dialogue on Public Education
An experienced elementary school teacher shared this story: “I was teaching science today and we were checking the cocoons that were part of our science curriculum. We have been checking them the past week and students note any changes they see. Nothing happened during the science time, and we moved on to math. Half way through the math lesson, the cocoons started opening up and the students got excited. But because the school is so rigid about the number of minutes we spend on each subject per day, I found myself telling the students to come back and focus on math. I felt horrible. This isn’t how I want to teach.”
This is not an isolated experience in US public education. The pressures being placed on educators are distorting the interactions between teachers and students in our schools. We are letting the formal system of education get in the way of learning. Most of us would not last a week, or even a day, as a public school teacher, and yet many are quick to pass judgment and offer simplistic solutions with great certainty. There is less genuine conversation about education as more decisions are made by national and local governments. Under this pressure, the educational systems are becoming narrower and more rigid. There is remarkably little space for educators to talk together about what is working and what improvements to make to serve their students.
At the Center for Ethical Leadership, we have learned that to transform the key institutions supporting our society, we need to hear the voices of people impacted by those systems. Ironically, in the case of public education, one of the voices not heard as much is the educators’. The Center and its national partners recently hosted a thought leader meeting of educators. We invited journalists, as they play a key role in telling the important stories of our culture – and public education is one of those important stories. We created an opportunity for three days of conversation about the role of education in our society and how to shape a new story to serve all students.
One of the clear messages from the conversations was the need to make room in public education for the stories of students, their families, and the community, in order to work effectively for the many different students living in very different contexts. At the gathering, teachers said that they need the flexibility to use the local community as a classroom and ensure that lessons are relevant to the lives of their students. They noted that human development is highly relational and requires us to let more of who we are and where we have come from into a process. This will foster the caring relationships that support successful learning.
Trusting teachers with the flexibility to integrate local stories into the curriculum is only one the ideas that emerged from the discussions. These stories will highlight the assets, talent and wisdom the community brings to the education process, connecting students and their communities to the learning process. When we move beyond rigid curricula and create powerful space for every voice to be heard, for people to be seen, and to hold stories sacred, teachers will tell different stories — stories of how well the schools support imagination, delight, and learning.
An experienced elementary school teacher shared this story: “I was teaching science today and we were checking the cocoons that were part of our science curriculum. We have been checking them the past week and students note any changes they see. Nothing happened during the science time, and we moved on to math. Half way through the math lesson, the cocoons started opening up and the students got excited. But because the school is so rigid about the number of minutes we spend on each subject per day, I found myself telling the students to come back and focus on math. I felt horrible. This isn’t how I want to teach.”
This is not an isolated experience in US public education. The pressures being placed on educators are distorting the interactions between teachers and students in our schools. We are letting the formal system of education get in the way of learning. Most of us would not last a week, or even a day, as a public school teacher, and yet many are quick to pass judgment and offer simplistic solutions with great certainty. There is less genuine conversation about education as more decisions are made by national and local governments. Under this pressure, the educational systems are becoming narrower and more rigid. There is remarkably little space for educators to talk together about what is working and what improvements to make to serve their students.
At the Center for Ethical Leadership, we have learned that to transform the key institutions supporting our society, we need to hear the voices of people impacted by those systems. Ironically, in the case of public education, one of the voices not heard as much is the educators’. The Center and its national partners recently hosted a thought leader meeting of educators. We invited journalists, as they play a key role in telling the important stories of our culture – and public education is one of those important stories. We created an opportunity for three days of conversation about the role of education in our society and how to shape a new story to serve all students.
One of the clear messages from the conversations was the need to make room in public education for the stories of students, their families, and the community, in order to work effectively for the many different students living in very different contexts. At the gathering, teachers said that they need the flexibility to use the local community as a classroom and ensure that lessons are relevant to the lives of their students. They noted that human development is highly relational and requires us to let more of who we are and where we have come from into a process. This will foster the caring relationships that support successful learning.
Trusting teachers with the flexibility to integrate local stories into the curriculum is only one the ideas that emerged from the discussions. These stories will highlight the assets, talent and wisdom the community brings to the education process, connecting students and their communities to the learning process. When we move beyond rigid curricula and create powerful space for every voice to be heard, for people to be seen, and to hold stories sacred, teachers will tell different stories — stories of how well the schools support imagination, delight, and learning.
Storytelling to Transform Community
At the Center, our leadership work always has a purpose – to advance the common good by transforming communities to be healthier, more just, and inclusive.
We rely on approaches that are timeless and grounded in human communities. One of the most prominent tools is storytelling and story making. To us, storytelling is not solely a way to communicate a point, but a way for people to share themselves with a group and to bring the context of their life and their challenges. As stories are told, the group holds each as a sacred contribution to the shared work. The next steps are to analyze the stories, and then make a new, collective story that can hold the work the group wants to do together.
When the Center hosted a thought leader meeting on public education, we looked for a site that would support deep storytelling. We chose the Highlander Center in Tennessee for its long history in convening groups working on social justice issues. Myles Horton, the founder of Highlander, wrote, “Rather than bringing in experts as resource people, Highlander brings people together, developing a circle of learners who share the same problems. Together, people share their experiences, analyze their problems and learn how to work toward basic changes in society.”
At the Center, our leadership work always has a purpose – to advance the common good by transforming communities to be healthier, more just, and inclusive.
We rely on approaches that are timeless and grounded in human communities. One of the most prominent tools is storytelling and story making. To us, storytelling is not solely a way to communicate a point, but a way for people to share themselves with a group and to bring the context of their life and their challenges. As stories are told, the group holds each as a sacred contribution to the shared work. The next steps are to analyze the stories, and then make a new, collective story that can hold the work the group wants to do together.
When the Center hosted a thought leader meeting on public education, we looked for a site that would support deep storytelling. We chose the Highlander Center in Tennessee for its long history in convening groups working on social justice issues. Myles Horton, the founder of Highlander, wrote, “Rather than bringing in experts as resource people, Highlander brings people together, developing a circle of learners who share the same problems. Together, people share their experiences, analyze their problems and learn how to work toward basic changes in society.”