My intuitive voice within said, “For most of our young people, there is a very thin space between their inner light and the dimming of it.”

Perhaps more than ever – in watching that wonderful film – I realized that today the greatest gift we can give our young people is to create a larger space between their inner light and the dimming of it. Not just a larger space, but the largest space our hearts can possibly conceive.

This, to me, is why the transformation of education is so important. There is no greater gift we can give our future generations, than to co-create – with our young people today, a learning journey that turns their light into a bonfire.  As I watched that film and saw the glowing light in their eyes, as they spoke about their visions for changing education and about the empowerment they felt, I got, at an even deeper level, the power of listening as a way to begin.

Asking young people to step into a circle of trust and authenticity and share their inner wisdom, a wisdom they often don’t know they actually have sometimes, is a beautiful experience. But as you might imagine, young people today are so wary of adults and their methods of manipulation, coercion, pushing their own agenda, etc., that it requires an absolutely pure environment for them to decide they will open up.

But this is what we strive for in the three hour Listening Sessions with teens that we lead all across the country. Through listening, we are working with them to build a national collective voice on the wisdom of young people about how they would transform education, if it were left completely up to them. In the space we create and hold for them to emerge within, they share their ideas, tell stories and ultimately paint a co-created vision of a learning journey they would love to experience.

These paintings are visual stories of their wisdom, creativity and passion for life – of their inner light. By repeating Listening Sessions with young people from all walks of life, all over the country, a series of themes begin to synthesize and ultimately, will become their collective voice

To date, we have led 20 Listening Sessions in 7 states, predominantly on the west coast and in the south. Most recently we conducted 6 Listening Sessions in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Student responses during the tour were overwhelmingly positive with us twice being asked, “Can you come back tomorrow?”

I think young people are saying this for two reasons: the first is that while the debate about changing education goes on feverishly across the country, young people are not being invited into the process. They have so many ideas, feelings and insights into how to change school, yet are noticeably missing from the conversation. This is a very disempowering place for them – a place of dimming.

The other reason they are so excited about being in the listening sessions, is that through our act of trusting and believing in them to be able to offer meaningful content into the educational conversation, they feel seen and heard – by us and by each other. The first thing we usually hear at the end of the Listening Session, is, “Thank you for listening, no one ever asks us what we think.” Our hosts have said they have literally seen a transformation occur within them, right before their eyes.

Listening seems a simple act, but it requires a deep caring, a complete absence of agenda and ego and a delight to hear from them. Creating a space for the purity of their voices to emerge is a sacred act, and it is one that leads to a brightening that is almost blinding.

In working to keep the Listening Sessions as pure as possible, I have always shied away from asking any organizations or people to contribute to our effort. I realize now, that instinctively, I have been trying to protect that distance between young people’s light and the dimming of it and let them fill it with their own beauty. I have not wanted anyone else’s agenda or beliefs to shift us from our purpose to just listen without any attachment to outcome.

But due to an unexpected outpouring of requests to do Listening Sessions, we can no longer continue to self fund Imagining Learning. I am delighted to say that the word has gotten around about what we are doing and we now have more than 35 communities requesting we come and lead at least one Listening Session!

So for the first time, we are asking others to support our work through a national campaign in partnership with IncitEd, a new crowdsourcing site (www.incited.org), solely committed to helping educational efforts receive funding. I love the idea of crowdsourcing because the giving, without attachments, will enable us to continue our purposeful way of Listening.

Being Stewards of an effort to bring the voices of young people forward, holding the space between their light and the dimming of it, is a gift to those of us involved. May we, as well as you who also hold them, grow in sensitivity and ability to do so.

Today a video of student Jeff Bliss, a sophomore at Duncanville High School in Texas, went viral fast. In the video below we are privy to Bliss passionately speaking his truth. He knows that learning is more than packets to fill out, more than passively fulfilling simple and mindless tasks.

You want kids to come into your class, you want them to get excited for this? You gotta come in here, you gotta make them excited. You want a kid to change and start doing better? You gotta touch his frickin’ heart. Can’t expect a kid to change if all you do is just tell him,” he says, as the teacher repeatedly tells him to leave the class.

While his message was pointed toward his experience in this classroom, it was born from a feeling that is boiling up in classroom after classroom across the country. It is why students are standing up and walking out of schools, protesting because they know there are better ways to learn together. They know they learn best when they are able to learn with teachers that teach to their hearts and not just to the test.

Students are not alone in this feeling, teachers and community leaders are also standing up and walking out. It is important to remember that we should not watch this video as an attack on teachers, but instead an opportunity to talk about what we want in our schools.

What struck me most about the video is that Jeff Bliss felt he needed to voice his ideas in a way that would get him kicked out of class. Why is this the only way for him to voice his visions about learning and education? Why did it take a 90 second video for us to realized that students “get it”? Why do we wait for students to burst or break before we listen?

Many of us are not waiting for students to reach a breaking point, we are proactively engaging them by providing positive venues and space for them to express their ideas, stories and voices.  My work with Imagining Learning along with other  organizations like IDEA, SoundOut, and Student Voice has has convinced me that  we must proactively help students activate their power to change education and the world by providing this space.

Just yesterday, Imagining Learning launched a campaign to fund 35 listening sessions (see video) around the country. Our Listening Sessions are designed to create an appreciative environment of trust and openness so young people’s natural wisdom can emerge. All young people have ideas about their education and how it should be changed.  They also possess deep wisdom about how their lives are affected by the world around them and how they can make it better. In the last 4 years we have done 20 listening sessions around the country. They are effective in providing the space to activate students toward using their voice and ideas to positively change the world and education not just to protest or react to it.

Jeff Bliss’ statements have sparked an important conversation about how we can provide positive spaces for engaging young people’s voice!

How are you providing space for young people to use their voice to change education or the world?

Please join us by donating our campaign. Each dollar will help us tour the country to do listening sessions with young people like Jeff Bliss http://www.incited.org/projects/13

Suppose we looked at teacher accountability in a new way? I propose we trust teachers—a little laissez-faire education if you will. This might require higher pay and a serious look at teacher education and quality, but it’ll balance itself out. With less money thrown at testing and corporate remediation materials plus the slew of highway robbers and scripted consultants there would be billions leftover for real improvement.

Let’s start by looking at real professional learning communities like tumblr education or Cooperative Catalyst (http://coopcatalyst.wordpress.com/). These are communities of educators who engage in constant self-assessment and community growth. They are teachers who challenge each other to be better teachers. There is constant debate and discourse. The collective knowledge and understanding of the teaching practice is ever growing and changing—it’s a lovely organism.

Teachers can be professionals. We are. Put it in our laps. We’ll make the changes. Hell, give us a politician to answer to, just see to it that we’re making the decisions. Many of us do anyway. The education revolution begins with us. It’s our ability to engage and organize—not politically, but intellectually, dialectically, and professionally?— that enables us to make tremendous changes with or without the support of our beloved bureaucrats.

Change occurs in our classrooms. It is spawned from our learning communities. Let’s keep pulling others in. You have made all the difference in my career.

I was asked to sit on a panel of teachers to represent my school district during the accreditation process. I assume I was chosen because I am eager to speak in meetings and apparently speak well. This makes me think my administration has only enjoyed the sound of my voice and not the content of my O so bold oration.

I noticed quickly that I was in a room full of yes men and women who teach in the more affluent schools in our district. They all smiled and sat nicely. They were there to be slaughtered like good little lambs. The team of teachers surrounding me, my co-teachers, were, not unlike me worse for wear and doubting. Lips pursed, eyebrows cocked, notepads out. We were prepared for whatever we were going to he expected to swallow without question. Of course, my group did not act in complete accord. One just parroted off whatever was expected. Another would nod in agreement with the rest of the flock.

This accreditation team is from Advanced Ed, a voluntary “quality assurance” company that comes in for a hefty price and helps ensure that schools are quantitatively meeting standards. They provide services ranging from professional development to teacher evaluations to curriculum development to brainwashing desperate administration. The people on the teams I have met are high paid zealots who offer instruction in best practices from corporate research done in schools far different from the ones they are currently serving. This is no shock. I’ve been impressed with their ability to stick to their script even when challenged. They utilize a method similar to Bill O’Reilly’s when challenged. They simply repeat their original point in a different tone and then say “well we don’t have time to continue this” or “for the sake of time we have to move on”. But they’re generally nice people.

Back to the meeting and the flock.

We were asked general questions regarding the state of our facilities, safety on campus, professional development related to Common Core, whether or not the professional development was useful, and many more. Most people nodded along in agreement with the flock.

And then we were asked if we thought our kids were prepared for college and/or the “real world” when they left or high school. The flocked bleated, “Yes”. They provided examples, “I am a product of this district and I was more than ready.” Several referenced themselves as examples.

I asked the “accreditors” who were superintendents from other states if they thought the students leaving their districts were prepared. They paused and looked at one another. I continued, “is it possible with the way things are segmented, and the focus on testing and extreme standardization for anyone to leave a school completely prepared?” The other teachers in the room began speaking. One shouted out, “I teach at the community college in the summers. Our students almost always have to enter remedial reading courses.” Another offered her child as an example stating how his first year of college was devoted to college prep courses.

The accreditors said we had to move on, but first he said: “off the record, we’re all in trouble.” And was back to the agenda. It was an interesting moment to see a stone face break for a moment. It was a nice moment of breaking from the flock for the teachers around me. It’s nice to see a Yes Man say no.

From the conference website:

“Conference is an opportunity to hear new ideas, share resources, but most of all to develop a community among those who are interested in ways to promote education to everyone interested in learning without the involvement of compulsory institutions. It is hoped that attendees will actively engage in supporting other individuals and organizations through a process of transparency whereby best practices can be shared and the viability of educating without compulsory schools will be firmly entrenched and legitimized. Organizations are encouraged to bring brochures as well as flyers about their upcoming events for distribution. Everyone is encouraged to network. The event is free and open to the public.”

The speakers for the event are: Dr. Peter Gray (author of Free To Learn and a Sudbury school advocate), Patrick Farenga (author of Teach Your Own and a homeschooling/unschooling advocate), Cevin Soling (filmmaker, The War on Kids), and Peter Bergson (founder, Open Connections learning center in PA).

I hope you’ll share this information and come to the event if you’re near. If not, send me a few sentences and a URL about a group or organization you know that supports alternatives to compulsory education and I’ll include it as a free listing in our event program.

IncitED is the crowdfunding community for education where teachers and education supporters can fund, share, and replicate important education initiatives worldwide. Visit IncitED at http://www.incited.org.

Like us on Facebook to get regular updates about how we’re supporting the work of educators: https://www.facebook.com/IncitEDTheCrowdfundingCommunityForEducation.

During the last week of April, we’ll be launching two exciting campaigns: Open Road Learning Community for Teens and Imagining Learning.

Open Road is a replication of North Star Self-Directed Learning for Teens that’s opening in Portland, Oregon, and is already accepting students. Follow their progress on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OpenRoadTeens.

Imagining Learning is a grassroots initiative to collect the voices of young people as they discuss what they want for their education. Each Imagining Learning Listening Session produces beautiful art as students create their visions for the future of education. Follow their progress on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/imagininglearning.

1. Heal for America — The healthcare system in America is crumbling, and what we really need to solve it are quality doctors. Give aspiring doctors 6 weeks of training, then put them in the most overcrowded hospitals around the country. If successful, we can send them abroad!

2. Police for America — Let’s solve the problem of gun violence on our streets once and for all by getting rid of corrupt and inept police officers. We will give aspiring police officers 6 weeks of training and then put them in neighborhoods with the highest rates of violent crime.

3. Experiment for America — If we want to cure cancer, we need fresh voices in the scientific community. Obviously, the scientists who’ve been working on a cure for the past decades aren’t doing their job very well, as cancer rates are skyrocketing with no cure in sight. Aspiring chemists will get six weeks of training, and then be put in charge of experiments testing cancer-curing drugs.

4. Defend America — The war in Afghanistan has been draining resources from the American people. We need better soldiers on the ground, or this conflict will never be resolved. What we need are bright young soldiers to shake things up a little bit. We will give aspiring army officers 6 weeks of training, and then put them in charge of units in the most complex arenas of war.

…

I don’t think I have to point out to anyone how ridiculous these proposals sound. Would you trust a doctor with six weeks of training to operate on your child? Would you want that police officer on your block? Would you want to send those soldiers into conflict? Would you take a drug developed by that chemist?

Who do progressives blame for the crumbling healthcare system? for gun violence? for failed wars? Not the individual police, doctors, soldiers — but the people at the top with the privilege, money, and power, the systems of oppression at work in our society. We talk about holistic approaches to solving all of the policy problems we face in this country today.

Take teen pregnancy. We talk about better sex education, access to contraceptives and the morning-after pill, funding for Planned Parenthood and women’s health programs, empowering young women, and advocating for pro-choice legislation. Imagine how discredited a progressive voice would be if they suggested that unwanted pregnancies were in fact only the fault of the woman, that the best solution to this problem would be to teach women not to have sex. (That progressive would probably be easily confused as a conservative right-winger.)

And yet, most education reform policies — with wide support by organizations such as Stand for Children, Leadership for Educational Equity, the American Legislative Exchange Council, etc. — focus on teacher responsibility for student learning, only one factor, instead of looking at holistic approaches to making public education more equitable.

Are there bad teachers? Sure. Are there bad cops, doctors, soldiers, scientists? Of course. But putting all of the responsibility on individual teachers to solve the education crisis is no more ridiculous than putting all of the responsibility on individual police to solve gun violence, on soldiers to put an end to war, on scientists to freeze cancer.

Instead, let’s look at community models of education, provide wrap-around services in schools, advocate for smaller class sizes and quality professional development, give teachers more planning periods throughout the day and invest in professional learning communities, implement teacher evaluations that include more than just test scores as measures, examine unequal funding methodologies of school districts… you catch my drift.

And, as progressives, we must demand policy leaders and business-people, Bill Gates and Michelle Rhee and the Broad Foundation and Pearson, who invest so much money and energy developing accountability measures and finding more ways to attack the teaching profession, to invest in community health and job creation and libraries and environmental justice and workers’ rights and immigration reform. Only when we begin looking at education policy with the same intersectionality that we use to look at other policy issues will we truly develop a public school system that offers every child a quality education.

Our idea is to encourage teachers, parents and students around the United States to write personal letters and mail them in May (not by e-mail) to Michelle Obama, telling her of your experiences and concerns with how high-stakes testing and other reforms are affecting those who actually spend their days on the front line, in our nation’s classrooms. As Nancy Carlsson-Paige described the current situation:

“As a professor of education, an educator of teachers, and someone who creates curriculum, I see the harm education reform is causing children — the disappearance of play, creativity, and the arts from our schools. Evaluation is now driving curriculum, and curriculum is being reduced to something mechanistic. This isn’t real learning.”

Educators like Dr. Carlsson-Page and Diane Ravitch have spoken out for years now, but for some reason their explanations have not been heard and understood by President Obama. He’s a very busy man, with a lot of issues on his plate. But he and Michelle are parents as well, with young daughters in school.

Which is why we thought an effective strategy might be for people from all over the Nation to write to Michelle Obama and let her know what is REALLY going on. As someone who spends time visiting schools, she should be able to quickly grasp these issues once she sits down, reads a few letters and really learns about the effect these policies have had.

Moreover, as First Lady she may be in the best position to help influence education policy. Once she “gets it” she can then explain the “uncomfortable” details of the issue to the President. One or two meaningful conversations between the two of them in the White House could lead to some big changes.

So, if you agree with this idea, we hope you will consider sharing your personal story with her. Let Michelle (and her staff) know what you’ve observed, as a parent, educator or student. Also, as parents and teachers, we can discuss this issue with our children and encourage them to write as well, expressing their unique point of view.

Isn’t this what “critical thinking skills” and participatory democracy are all about – finding a way for our leaders to hear (and be guided by) the voices and wisdom of the people, all the people, even the children?

Thanks for considering this idea and sharing it with others.

“There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” ~Victor Hugo

Send your letter to:

Ms. Michelle Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Christopher Chase is the co-admin of The Art of Learning’s facebook page.  The Art of Learning believes “Human beings are natural born learners.” Chase worked with Hank Levin as a member of the Stanford Accelerated Schools Project, 1989-1993. Currently teaching English at Seinan Gakuin University, in Japan. Ph.D. in education from Stanford University, 1993.

The need for a change in education is evident. But what’s the practical solution? It is easy to point out the flaws of the current system, but it is much more difficult to come up with relevant, applicable solutions. And it is even more difficult for policy makers to bring about change.

It is my hope to not only spread the need for educational change, but to offer a practical, non-radical solution that can actually be implemented.

I encourage everyone to voice their opinion, criticize, and send a message to our decision makers in the US Department of Education.

Support the petition: http://www.change.org/petitions/the-american-education-system-is-outdated-it-s-time-for-change

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–Arooj Ahmad is a 16-year-old high school sophomore at Libertyville High School in suburban Chicago who wants to bring about practical change in the outdated American education system.

Image courtesy Koninklijke NKBV/Flickr.

Every February the Banff Festival of Mountain Films World Tour comes to Ellsworth, Maine, near where I live; it’s a highlight of the winter for us. We love watching the best films of the several hundred submissions in Mountain Sports and Mountain Culture, and without fail, unless I am traveling for work, I attend all the nights of the tour. As I did this year.

As usual, there were amazing films, showcasing incredible athletes and powerful stories. But this year there was a new, unexpected, and dismaying shift toward commercialism. The festival is sponsored by many companies. Common among them are National Geographic, along with companies that produce outdoor gear and clothing, trail bars and other foods, etc. The sponsors receive a good deal of publicity. They’re featured in the program and on the visually stunning and powerful opening festival film that introduces the tour. If you attend the festival, you can’t possibly miss the sponsors.

Commercial Overkill

This year, however, there were more product placements than I’d ever seen before. One athlete – a trail runner – was filmed repeatedly talking to the camera in one outfit or another with Salamon plastered all over it. Another – a snowboarder/base jumper – was filmed numerous times driving her Nissan, with Nissan painted on the hood in huge letters; Nissan painted across her snowboard; Nissan on her helmet. Her friend and fellow adventurer wore a Red Bull helmet. In another film, we watched an athlete packing his trail bag with Clif Bars and regularly saw him in his hat sporting a Clif Bar patch.

As if this weren’t enough, the festival hit its commercial rock bottom with the showing of the film “Petzl Roc Trip China,” a beautifully choreographed film of rock climbers coming to a remote area of China to climb its gorgeous walls and arches. The film was produced by the rock and ice climbing gear company Petzl. Petzl’s name was everywhere, including – shockingly – in the music. A Chinese man appeared several times in the film singing “Petzl, Petzl, Petzl.” Had Petzl funded this gorgeous film and left itself out of the title and singing, including its name only on the opening and closing credits, I would find myself feeling quite positive about this company. Instead I left planning to avoid Petzl products from now on.

It bothered me that Banff was willing to bring such films on tour, and in so doing seemingly embrace the encroaching commercialism of their otherwise amazing festival. I understand that athletes, especially those in sports that are not lucrative, may need sponsorships; but Banff could limit the commercialization in their own festival. There were almost 400 submissions in this year’s festival. Twenty-eight films were chosen to go on tour. It’s hard for me to imagine there weren’t films just as worthy of airing that weren’t advertisements for companies and their products. If Banff doesn’t say no, then the commercialization will not only continue but likely increase.

What’s the Harm?

Every time I go to a national theater chain and pay for my $8-10 ticket and then have to sit through photo advertisements and commercials, I am stunned by our willingness as citizens to accept this. Every year it gets worse. Now it has spread to a festival like Banff.

Some may wonder what’s the harm? Petzl created a beautiful, creative film about climbing in China. Petzl makes climbing equipment. No big deal. So what if Red Bull is being advertised on a climbing helmet or hat? Who cares if Nissan has its name front and center in scene after scene of a mountain sports film?

This is why it’s a big deal: We’re all being branded, and it’s happening younger and younger. We are losing the ability to discern our needs from our desires and base our desires on our deepest beliefs and values, rather than on others’ manipulations and influence.

They’ve Come for Our Brains (and Our Money)

Recently I taught a week-long course at a middle school in rural Maine. Half the kids in that class live in homes without television in a state without billboards. Every single one of them lives in a home that composts. Almost half raise chickens. This is not your typical class of American children. Yet when I tested their commercial knowledge, asking them if they could recognize companies by their logo or the first letter in their brand, they were experts, just like kids across the U.S. Most would have gotten an A+ had they been tested on their brand knowledge. (Feel free to test yourself in my TEDx talk, Educating for Freedom.)

They also thought that they were unaffected by advertising; but this simply isn’t true. Companies don’t spend millions and sometimes billions of dollars for ineffective marketing strategies. We are all affected. Advertising insidiously shapes our desires and habits, often without our consent.

Speak Out to Change the World

It’s one thing to submit to commercials when, in exchange, you are receiving free programming (as with much of television and radio), but If you don’t want to be subjected to endless commercial messages when you pay money for your entertainment, speak out.

Your voice matters.

Only we citizens can stop this tide and, in the process, protect our children’s ability to choose based on their true desires, not their manufactured ones.

~ Zoe