Last week, I (Bryant Muldrew), attended a workshop where youth were having a conversation about education reform and their vision of education. It inspired me to write down an opinion I’ve had for awhile that I’d like to share with you all.
The realest conversations about education take place in small groups of students, parents, or educators who are genuinely vested in education transformation. Simultaneously, there are other groups of people having conversations around education which are completely contradictory to the genuine conversation. These groups include the Department of Education, some nonprofit foundations, corporations, and other political groups.
These exclusionary conversations are dangerous. As I’ve said in plenty of speeches and conversations, it is irrational to have a conversation that excludes students (and educators). Who could evaluate the public school system better than those who experience and participate in that system on a daily basis? Truthfully, this exclusionary conversation can be considered sinister. The course of education is being decided by groups of individuals whose intentions many do not understand. I mention this because I believe the process in which policy is developed is rooted in segregation—not just the segregation of race, but the segregation of ideals and morality.
In order to break down this segregation students, parents, and educators must be included in the conversation as we try to fix education as a country. Additionally, students, parents, and educators must learn to publicly verbalize their opinions in regard to education. Silence is the open door that policy pushers use to further their own agendas.
I typically write about the National Student Bill of Rights because its establishment would transform our educational system into a part of a participatory democracy. Let it be said that there is a dire need for a Participatory Democracy.