Educated to Death

0059: What does the #occupy movement mean for educators? Who are the educators?

#OWS #teaching #revolution

Is the occupy movement the rallying of the troops before a revolution? Or will the regime just topple? I think we are all on the edge of our seats, or in the streets, filled with hope. This is a hard time for all of us, but for once there is a unified us. I am young, but I feel like I have neighbors, true neighbors, everywhere. The occupy movement is clearly a major movement and a seemingly unique movement with broad implications for a broad group of people— the 99 percent. And, it matters as much to 18 year olds as it does to 80 year olds. We all are stakeholders in this vast place we call our country. We all give a damn.

I’ve been trying to figure out what this movement means to me, a teacher in an urban southern middle school, or, what it would have meant to me when I was teaching in a really rural school. First, the results of this movement, if it continues, will come slowly. This idea of social, cultural, and economic revolution is highly viscous. It was not born in September, nor will it suddenly die. This movement is the culmination of a group of people who have voices who have been trampled steadily and slowly for quite some time. I expect this movement to be more than just a unit in a textbook. Perhaps, it will be the end of the textbook. Maybe it will bust the textbook companies and text will become relevant to the people who read it. Maybe this movement will continue to affect people in such a way that they realize they are capable of contributing to culture. That society belongs to them. It is certainly teaching us to communicate. It is teaching us that we are actually a people. We are not as distant as we were a year ago.

I don’t know the impact on the system of education this movement will have. But I see it changing our perceptions. It is an infectious and transformative idea that is burning. If anything we are looking at each other differently. We are idealists. But, our thoughts are not without deed. We are undefined, but are stronger in our mutual existence. We are peaceful, but not silent, and certainly not passive. We are the educated. We are being educated. We are educating. We are the people. And, we are the revolution. We are awake!