Make AED Scholars an Organizing Center

Can the AED Scholars Become an Organizing Center ?

The Institute works to advance the Agenda for Education in a Democracy. This Agenda consists of a four-part mission, a set of strategies to achieve that mission, and conditions that are necessary to carry out the strategies.

The agenda is mission driven and research based. It seeks to:

• Foster in the nation's young the skills, attitudes, and knowledge necessary for effective participation in a social and political democracy.
• Ensure that all youths have access to those understandings and skills required for satisfying and responsible lives regardless of race, religion, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or birth language.
• Develop and provide continuing support to educators who nurture the learning and well being of every student.
• Ensure that educators are competent and committed to serving as stewards of their schools.

To accomplish this mission, schools and universities seek simultaneous renewal of schools and the education of educators. They do so by putting in place the conditions necessary to renewing the nation's schools and its democracy.

There is little doubt about the commitment to the Agenda for Education in a Democracy among the AED scholars.  I suspect we live out that commitment everyday and in every aspect of our work. The question before us, as I understand it, is not about commitment to the work of furthering the Agenda, but about whether or not we, as a group of scholars, want to be an organizing center for its promotion.  Surely we are all enmeshed in a web of groups and institutions that occupy all of our waking hours (and some of our sleeping hours as well).  We endeavor to exercise responsible influence on the groups and institutions within our spheres.

For me thus far, belonging to AED Scholars has been an honor. I feel privileged to be in the company of so many gifted, ethical and like-minded educators. It gives me some measure of comfort to know that others are doing the work to which we have a collective commitment.  However, I do not feel as though I have been a very good steward of the agenda beyond my own personal actions day to day. That is to say, I feel that I have promoted democratic ideals whenever and wherever possible, but have not deliberately or publically connected them to AED.  Very few people who have read my scholarship or with whom I interact day to day understand that my behavior is motivated by AED. Perhaps one of the best things we can do as AED scholars is make our commitment more public. It would not be a small thing to agree to use a common symbol of our work that acknowledges our group, one that links us to the agenda and to one another.

How are linked? What kind of relationships exist among the AED scholars? Thus far we have been primarily a community of ideals, not so much a community of place or even a discourse community (in the sense that we share scholarship on a regular basis). The AED scholars may not feel that it’s necessary to draw together as yet another freestanding entity. Do we wish to add to the current constellation of groups and institutions to which we belong?  I would argue that we do need to draw together, that we do need to be an organizing center and that we do need to become a strong community of mind. We need to be so simply because our mission is to further the agenda.  I once asked John what he meant when he used this phrase, for he uses it quite often.  What does it mean to further the Agenda?  Does it mean further develop the agenda or does it mean to better disseminate the Agenda?  John was pretty clear that he meant the latter.  If that is so, it implies enlisting others to share our values and see the world, and what is important in it, as we do.  If you follow that reasoning, then the AED Scholars’ role would be to formulate an identity and expand our influence.  We would go as many other organizations have gone – increase our membership, accumulate resources, undertake “missionary” work, mentor new scholars into this group, become better known. Surely we know how to do this.  The question is, do we have the will?

I can think of six strategies for pulling a group such as ours together: 1. Write a text in which we each take responsibility for a section or chapter.  2. Convene together to present papers and discuss ways to support one another.  3. Make presentations about aspects of the agenda at state and national meetings.  4. Create a virtual community using all of the tools available to us on the World Wide Web. 5.  Band together with other groups and organizations that share our values. 6. Construct a common syllabus and see that it gets institutionalized in our college or university.

I am sorry that I do not have more imaginative suggestions.  The key in making this group more viable is for those of us involved to make a conscious pledge to devote a portion of every week/month/year to furthering the agenda through collaborating together. I look forward to seeing other ideas and suggestions.  

Poetter Thoughts on AED

The following comments are shared by Tom Poetter as he reflects on the AED:

First of all, I want to thank Dick Clark personally, through this short introductory note, for the tremendous impact he has had on me as a person and on the field of education as a professional educator.  He has facilitated so much growth in me, by giving so many opportunities and by opening so many doors.  His ways welcomed me and pushed me.  I am deeply indebted to him for all that he has done, as we are all.  I intend on continuing to work with the AED Scholars for as long as the work continues.  I was and still am so very honored to have been selected to participate with the group and have very much enjoyed the experiences along the way. 

To the question, then:  Well, I think back to several things that have happened to me at least tangentially through my involvement with IEI, the AED, and the NNER over the past decade or more.  I remember a poignant moment at an AERA meeting in the late 1990s in which Dr. Goodlad, Eliot Eisner, Maxine Greene, and Madeline Grumet were struggling out loud in a large, well-attended session with the question, “What would John Dewey have to say about the rise of high stakes testing and the standardization of the curriculum?”  Among many other things, Dr. Goodlad said (I am paraphrasing) that Dewey “would be so disappointed that so many of us have done so little to stem the tide.”  That phrasing stuck with me, and inspired me to take steps that were more directly related to this monstrous problem that challenges us now, among so many others.

I began to write a futuristic novel about the impact of high stakes testing in late 2000.  I published it with Hamilton Books (Rowman & Littlefield) under the title The Education of Sam Sanders in 2006.  It was my first attempt at fiction writing.  I never thought the book would catch on, but I wanted at least to be able to say that along with my teaching and local education work that I was using whatever talents I had to “stem the tide.”  In a nutshell, the novel, set in the future, chronicles the acts of Sam Sanders, a 14 year old boy who opts out of the test, and leads a progressive revolution that transforms future schooling to become more interactive, more humane, more driven by students’ interests and concerns, and more relevant.  He starts the revolution with a simple act, by walking away from the test, refusing to take it, that is, by “opting out.”

It wasn’t until this past winter of 2012 that the book began to buzz a bit.  The book had already been out six years, so it surprised me that renewed interest in it had been kindled by a group of “opt out” activists who had discovered it and were sharing it with friends on the internet.  This led ultimately to an invitation to do a “teach-in” on LBJ Plaza at a protest organized by Opt Out National’s Occupy the Department of Education event in late March 2012.  I joined other activists, teachers, professors, citizens, parents, and students fed up by the corporatization of the curriculum and schools, and the nearly complete annihilation of schooling as we know it or as it could be by the test, by privatization, and by anti-democratic interests (billionaire boys’ club, ALEC, etc.) as a protestor on the plaza.  The National Opt Out Organization’s strategy is to help people opt out of the test, and to push/lobby the powerful to create laws protecting people who do opt out, so that their civil acts of disobedience are non-punitive.

I support their work completely, and have learned a great deal by supporting their activism and by being active myself.  The main thing I have learned is that professors and educationists of all sorts are passionate about these issues that threaten American schooling and democracy so acutely, but that the real energy and power lies in the hands and lives of students and parents, citizens themselves.  It’s true, the revolution will be led by a “Sam Sanders.”  The questions are, How can we support him/her?  Nurture him/her?  Prepare the way?

From early on I pushed the AED Scholars Group to think of itself as politically active.  One of our study groups attempted to take steps in this direction through the creation of a blog several years ago.  But, in general, I think the group has been mostly focused on professional development of the members as opposed to focused on how to use our talents/abilities/experiences to “stem the tide.”  I understand that this is a fundamental philosophical issue, who will we be, what will we do?  And believe me, I understand that the issues are vast, that they go far beyond high stakes testing, privatization, corporatization, standardization, etc.  It is easy to get caught in the trap of wondering, “What can I do?” while we try to teach our classes and navigate the politics of our own institutions and communities.  But I think this is precisely the reason why we remain on the sidelines while so many others steer the tide away from us.  And instead of suggesting that we fight back, all I’m suggesting is that we use our time and talents more actively, at least exploring how it is that we could develop alternative perspectives, share them more widely, impact the public.  I think this is a function that the AED Scholars could explore together, instead of acting only on our own.  This is something I would like to explore more deeply with the group.

Several years ago, Dr. Goodlad asked me why I gave up on this “politically active” tack so easily with the AED Scholars after pushing it early on, he wondered why I didn’t fight for it harder.  He said that the culture of the organizations that he and Dick founded and nurtured and worked in had an enormous amount of “give and take” and “sound argument” built into the thriving vitality of the work, the groups, and the group’s members.  I suppose I just figured that if no one wanted to play, that I’d find another place to play.  As I get older and treasure home more, I feel like the AED Scholars Group is home.  I’d like to push this a bit further, now that I have the footing and the confidence to move.  But I certainly can’t do it alone.  I’m trying my best, but am having little impact.  What could we do together?   

Thomas S. Poetter, AED Scholar, Ph.D., Professor, Miami Unversity, Oxford, Ohio

Corrected Version of Nadine Ball's Views on AED

Nadine Ball reflects on future of AED Scholar work with the following observations:

Several aspects of the AED Scholars’ work are essential: the distributed nature of the work, punctuated with occasional gatherings; the involvement over time of educators from diverse personal, practice, and geographic backgrounds; and the openness to innovation in how we express and educate for democracy in our settings. These strengths also make our work on behalf of the AED challenging: it is difficult to communicate “what” it is and to identify long-term directions. 

Philosophically what is essential to the AED is the deep and shared belief that education must be FOR something beyond our society’s default settings of hyper-individualism, gluttonous consumption, and power-over others. For me, this includes education that is for democracy, for sustainable development, for wise and healthy beings who live in strong communities.

How might we influence the direction of education in the US? Potential answers to this question relate to scale. At an individual scale, it involves developing understanding and voice and helping others do the same. This seems a question of praxis: continually voicing the Agenda, educating others over time to the how and why of this work, voicing its importance and insisting on its presence to colleagues at the university, in schools, and in our communities.

Joining-with also seems essential: for renewal of our hearts, minds, and souls and therefore our programs and work. As Leslie noted, many of us know and trust each other, and so continuing the work will happen. Communication among the settings has always been a challenge—often only occurring at AED meetings. Additionally, our web presences do not capture the exciting and powerful work going on in ways that grab attention. Audrey’s idea of some sort of regular submission seems important to me, and I would like to suggest that we welcome both academic work and student submissions. The case studies are powerful. I also would like to see videos of practice; digital storytelling; and other dynamic approaches to sharing. Many could benefit from a place for making sense of the work-as-it-happens—a question forum or a How the heck do you do/deal with…. Sometimes the details of practice are what help us make sense of the AED.

I believe it is time to explore ways to join-with like-minded allies and create a louder local, state-level, and national voice. I just returned from a UNESCO meeting for Reorienting Teacher Education for Sustainable Development. ESD shares our commitments to equity, quality education, democratic principles, and economic and environmental justices. Like democracy, sustainable development is an ideal, something we can only approximate. Still, it was breathtaking to meet educators from around the world who are committed to engaging, student- and community- centered education for sustainable development. We heard stories from around the world in which problem solving for local communities was the heart of the educational work underway. I hope to shift my teaching toward this vision of 21^stcentury skills with heart.

At the meeting, the US Delegates met to discuss forming a network of network already involved in some aspect of this work. The US Network for Education for Sustainable Development seems one way we might generate a louder voice for our work. As a network of networks, the US network for Between the number of organizations and networks participating and the UNESCO‘name’, this might be a way of leveraging visibility.

Regular meetings seem essential, too—scheduled as a regular part of the conferences. Our work is too important to be squeezed in as an afterthought.

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