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Educating the whole child, using social media, taking responsibility for educational choice,
and introducing the Institute for Democratic Education in America
Supporting Childrens Freedom to
Discover Temselves and Teir World
Summer 2010, I ssue #61 Vol ume 22, Number 2
$4.95
4 The Magazine of Educational Alternatives
T
his spring I worked with a team of colleagues to launch
IDEA. Te Institute for Democratic Education in
America is a national organization dedicated to ensuring
that all young people can participate meaningfully in their
education and gain the tools to learn about who they are and
build a just, democratic, and sustainable world.
I will explain more about why we founded IDEA and
what it will be doing, but nrst I want to describe the path
that led me to co-founding IDEA. I nrst learned about non-
conventional education 10 years ago, while studying music
education at the University of Michigan. Trough experi-
ences at schools and summer camps, I knew I greatly enjoyed
helping young people grow as individuals. Yet I was turned
on from teaching when my professors told me I should go by
Mr. Bennis and use an iron nst for discipline and control.
Luckily I had one professor who mentioned Summerhill
School and I quickly began reading everything I could nnd
about student-centered and freedom-based education. I learned
about AERO and found democratic and open schools in
Michigan for student teaching. When I nrst discovered there
was something beyond conventional schooling, I was hooked.
Te concepts of non-coercion and freedom in learning became
my mantras and the root of what I saw as good education.
Evolving towards IDEA
I nt r oduc i ng t he I ns t i t ut e f or Democ r at i c Educ at i on i n Amer i c a
B\ Daxa Bixxis
the exchange, while they could still freely make their own
choices.
As George Dennison describes in e Lives of Children,
when trust is built between an adult and young person such
that the student knows he or she can take or refuse a sugges-
tion without guilt, the natural authority and experience
of the adult is welcome and can be helpful. I began asking
myself whether the neat and tidy distinction between what
was coercive and what was a healthy exchange between adults
and youth was really so simple and stark?
During my time in Albany, I also became more aware
of the inequity, class divisions, and power dynamics present
in our society and their impact on education and learning.
Albany Free School, as many readers know, is located in a
downtown, low-income, and racially diverse neighborhood
one of the few democratic schools in such a community.
Although it has taken me several years to understand it
in this way, I was beginning, at the time, to consider my own
privilege as a white male from a secure middle-class family. By
virtue of this invisible knapsack,
1
I had an in to the cul-
ture of power in society, which is also largely white, male, and
amuent. I knew how to speak standard English with correct
grammar, I was not judged negatively due to the color of my
skin, and I could fall back on the security net of my family if
things didnt work out for me.
Meanwhile, many of the students at Albany Free School
(and in many lower income communities and communities
of color around the country) do not have the same privileges
and support mechanisms I had taken for granted. I began
to see that for some families, joining a democratic school
was a huge risk, when the question of whether their children
would learn the language and culture of power could deter-
mine whether those children would rise up out of the cycle
of poverty and racism.
I began to wonder, do we democratic education advocates
lose an entire audience of teachers, students, and parents by
speaking about freedom and choice without recognition of
the history and impact of inequity, classism, and racism?
Does democratic education have to look the same in each
community?
Cant democratic education support young people in
the development of the tools of literacy and communication
while also practicing self-directed learning?
Can youth, without tools of literacy and communication,
access the power structures in society as it currently exists?
And can we change society without empowering those
who are disempowered, even if it means creating new
concepts and shedding some older ones?
In 2001, I joined the teaching stan of Albany Free
School in New York. I learned a great deal from working
at the school, especially about the role of the adult and
the fundamental importance of building strong relation-
ships between adults and youth. In my early explorations of
democratic education, I believed that the adult must always
step back and take extra care not to subtly innuence young
people. Gradually, I found that as I got to know students, I
could bring my full self, with opinions and suggestions, into
[
[
I began to see that for some families,
joining a democratic school was a huge
risk, when the question of whether
their children would learn the language
and culture of power could determine
whether those children would rise up
out of the cycle of poverty and racism.
Education Revolution 5
Tese questions stayed with me during my experiences in
the following years organizing the 2003 International Demo-
cratic Education Conference (IDEC), visiting the education
work in Israel led by Yaacov Hecht and the Institute for
Democratic Education (IDE), and earning a masters degree in
education.
My partner and fellow educator, Julie Hill, and my grad-
uate advisor Connie Krosney, introduced me to the writings
of Paulo Freire, bell hooks, and Lisa Delpit, each of whom
examines the interconnected issues of freedom and justice in
education. Connie challenged me to consider whether demo-
cratic education is only for the privileged few who can anord
it, or if it could be relevant to the majority of young people in
public schools.
I knew, then, that I wanted to work on a broad level for
democratic education. And I knew this work had to address
these essential questions.
In 2008, Jonah Canner of Fertile Grounds Project in
New York joined me at the IDEC in Vancouver ready to cre-
ate an educational change organization that would face these
questions head on. We joined with Scott Nine, Melia Dicker,
Adam Fletcher, Laura Stine, and several others to plan the
development of an organization that would dedicate itself to
providing credibility and support for democratic education,
that would ask these hard questions, work openly with those
often seen as the enemy, and use social media, web technol-
ogy, and pragmatic organizing to catalyze democratic educa-
tional change.
Tis organization is IDEA. Te Institute for Democratic
Education in America omcially took night in May, 2010.
IDEAs website is growing and our nrst video, Democratic
Education: Make Your Voice Heard, has so far been seen over
3,000 times on YouTube and at more than 15 launch parties
around the United States (links at end of article).
IDEAs strategy is based on fueling an education double
movement: both on the ground and through political and
civic leadership. Tree steps guide our work:
Frame democratic education as something just, nu-
anced, and accessible. Our website includes descriptions of
this conception of democratic education; blogs by educators,
students, parents, and others; and research materials that can
be downloaded.
Connect and listen to a strong network of youth, teach-
ers, youth workers, parents, and policy makers. We must
engage with others in conversation and be humble enough
to know that we do not have all the answers. Tis involves
collaborating with others through local gatherings and so-
cial networking tools to raise awareness, build momentum,
and inspire action.
Catalyze action by fueling the small nres that already
exist to generate a more credible and potent capacity to make
substantial change. We do this through identifying and sup-
porting a dozen regional organizers around the country to
Primary Resources for Learner-Centered Education
from Sentient Publications
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Changing the Heart
of Education
Steven Harrison
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Such a nobly simple idea, that
the true purpose of education
should be happiness, and so
clearly reasoned. Harrison
speaks for the lives of children
everywhere.
Chris Mercogliano, author
of In Defense of Childhood
iwsrvzn ov
vnuczriow
Ways to Help People
Do Things Better
John Holt
$1S.9S 1S91810094
John Holts groundbreaking
work Instead of Education is as
radically relevant to the educa-
tional challenges of our genera-
tion as it was to his.
Ron Miller, Ph.D., author of
Free Schools, Free People
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How One Public School
Ignites a Lifelong Love
of Learning
Rick Posner, PhD
$1.9S 981S91810841
For everyone suffocating in the
shroud of institutional school-
ing this wonderful book is a
breath of fresh air. It will inspire
you with courage. Read it for all
our sakes.
John Gatto,
author of Dumbing Us Down
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Inspiring Love, Creativity,
and Intelligence in
Middle School Kids
Bernie Schein
$18.9S 981S91810
This is the creative process,
the stuff of art. Schein has exu-
berantly blazed new trails in
education.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Sentient Aero 7.5 x 5_Layout 1 3/6/2010 12:49 PM Page 1
6 The Magazine of Educational Alternatives
listen, network, and support educational change processes. A
pool of consultants will provide direct support for the spe-
cinc needs of schools and communities. Workshops, training
programs, and youth leadership development are all on the
horizon.
IDEAs ultimate goal is to change the national culture
and practice of education to one that values a broad dennition
of learning and success and that provides all young people
with meaningful involvement in their learning. We believe
that democratic education can and must grow in multiple
settings. Tis includes individual schools that call themselves
democratic as well as others, especially public schools, such as
Jenerson County Open School in Colorado, the 40 EdVisions
schools, and the 60 Big Picture Schools around the U.S. and
the world, that practice student-directed learning in profound
ways, yet do not use the term democratic school.
Democratic education is also found in the classrooms of
courageous teachers who give their students a chance to ac-
tively participate and pursue their interests. Many non-pront
and out-of-school programs working with youth use demo-
cratic education in practice, as do many progressive universi-
ties, early childhood programs, homeschooling networks,
summer camps, youth advisory groups for elected omcials,
and even pioneering businesses and organizations that give
their employees more autonomy and room for creativity.
IDEA is working to highlight, develop, and support the
growth of democratic education in all these sectors. My col-
leagues and I recognize, as do Kirsten Olson and Ron Miller
in their dialogue from the Spring 2010 issue of Education
Revolution, that educational change is not an either/or: either
work for change inside or outside the system. We resonate
with Kirstens point that we radically disempower ourselves
by withdrawing from mainstream talk that stun going on in
mainstream educational publications, blogs, statehouses, and
over at the Department of Education.
We believe it is not only possible, but necessary, for us
to stay true to our roots of student freedom and democracy
while working with allies in the public sector for deep educa-
tional and societal change. Indeed there are many potential
allies who are frustrated with the continual march towards
greater standardization. And most especially, we at IDEA
believe strongly in the democratic goal of public education to
provide all young people with a quality that is, democratic
and meaningful educational experience.
We are not arrogant in thinking this will be easy. We
know that change, and especially educational change, is very
dimcult. We recognize and are humble in our awareness that
many previous and current enorts for educational change,
as Ron reminds us in the dialogue with Kirsten, have been
thwarted by strong powers seeking to maintain the testing
industry and other aspects of conventional education.
Yet, we believe that rapid social, economic, and envi-
ronmental changes, new forms of technology, the current
activism of young people, and the widespread frustration of
educators, youth, and parents provide us with a strong op-
portunity to have a real impact.
[
[
We believe that rapid social, economic,
and environmental changes, new forms
of technology, the current activism
of young people, and the widespread
frustration of educators, youth,
and parents provide us with a strong
opportunity to have a real impact.
Learn more about IDEA
WEBSI TE: www.democraticeducation.org
VI DEO: www.bit.ly/idea-video
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/democraticeducation
IDEA stands on the shoulders of those who have worked
and continue to work for change in education, civil rights,
womens rights, youth rights, and environmental protec-
tion. We see that these groups found success when humility,
potency, strategy, accountability, and sacrince stepped forward
and dogma, division, and fear stepped down.
If these ideas and values resonate with you, please join
us in this work. We know that we do not have the sumcient
time, experience, or wisdom to do this on our own.
Visit our website. Watch our 3-minute video and send
the link to your friends. Join the dialogue by commenting on
our blogs and liking us on Facebook. Check out our online
resources and send us research and activities to add. Get in
touch with us to volunteer or intern, and consider applying
on the website to be an IDEA Organizer.
Most especially, contact us anytime with suggestions,
feedback, and criticism.
We look forward to hearing from you and working with you.
Dana Bennis is co-founder and Research and Policy Director
of IDEA. He can be reached at dbennis@democraticeduca-
tion.org.
Note
1. Peggy McIntosh, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible
Knapsack, excerpted from Working Paper 189, published in
Peace and Freedom: July/August 1989.

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