Educated to Death

0094: Dear Teachers, Activists, Revolutionaries, and Newly Awakened

#revolution #Egypt #Syria #OO #anonymous

If we are to be revolutionaries, and we are to be revolutionaries for these are revolutionary times, then we must surrender ourselves to the danger of personal transformation. We must submit to the cold truth that there is nothing but tomorrow, and tomorrow can only be as beautiful as we, the stakeholders, the activists, the revolutionaries, the teachers, the poets, the seekers make it. By submitting our pens and voices and bodies to the transformation of the perverse world we are claiming that we see in this mess a Beauty and Truth that cannot be extinguished by greed or hate or oppression. We see the pain in the eyes of our neighbor, we see the dullness in the eyes of drugged and drudges school children, we see the furrowing of our own brows when we stare into the mirror, and we know that we can no longer bear the torment, nor can we allow the torment to bear down on any other soul. We are for the first time in years walking toward one another rather than away. We are now beginning to awaken, and we must continue to waken our slumbering counterparts. Bless you brothers and sisters. We stand in solidarity for the future and the present of humanity.

Prayers for those who struggle everywhere, and action as well.

0074: #Occupy and #Anonymous in the Classroom: To Censor is to Lie

@UnicornsImage #censorship #discourse #legion

I received a response to a Tweet I made regarding the importance of helping students understand the occupy movement. The response stated: “@educatedtodeath Teachers should TEACH our kids not BRAINWASH them! #ows DOES NOT belong in ANY curriculum!” I tweeted back that I agreed. The Occupy Movement does not belong in a standardized curriculum, but it should not be hidden from students.

This movement is the first time in many of our lives that we have seen or been a part of people, from We the People, standing up and fighting (peacefully) back against a systemic injustice. People are standing in solidarity exercising their constitutional rights, just as they have in other social movements throughout history. This should not, cannot be ignored by teachers. First, it’s an incredibly teachable moment. History is unfolding before us, and with us. We are included. But, more important than the educational teachable moment, we have people becoming powerful without all the typical means to power: money, guns, etc. The people of the Occupy Movement and Anonymous are acting civilly to represent the people. This is a truly democratic movement, standing against myriad injustices. Do we not teach to build critical thinkers? Is praxis not the goal of a critical education? Democracy runs on informed action of the people I believe. For that to occur, information must flow freely. It would be the greatest injustice to demonize or hide the action of the people from our children. They are the stakeholders in the future. They are we. And, we are legion.

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!