Education Superheroes Coming to Your Town Soon! Review of Yaacov Hecht’s Democratic Education
I've been thinking lately about how superhero stories are so popular and wondering what this says about our collective cultural psyche. Do we somehow, deep down, desire to save the world and make it a better place? Or is it that we think only someone special can do it and we can only wait and watch on the sidelines? I want to think it is the former -- that we all want to be “super” and help to bring about change. I mean, as a kid I was trying to turn myself into Wonder Woman, not Steve Trevor (her clueless boss/ victim of various Nazi plots/ romantic interest)!
I am currently teaching an online summer graduate class on educational alternatives and many of the students seem to be struggling -- not with the values and concepts underlying educational alternatives so much, but rather with a wistful hope that we could make conventional public schools more like the alternatives about which we're reading. I get the sense sometimes that some of my students are wishing for a superhero to jump in and save the day, educationally speaking, to fix what ails our current systems and make it all better in a flash. My students struggle, as do I, with the huge question of whether or not we will ever see substantive change in our approach to educating youth. I wish I could tell them a hero/ great educational leader/ mutant/ creature from another planet was on his/her way to save us all from the iron grip of NCLB-Man and his minions, Standard Curriculum Boy and Grade Monger. But that would be giving false hope as well as denying my students the opportunity to see themselves as heroes/change agents for a brighter, more democratic/egalitarian tomorrow.
Even though my readings are already chosen for this summer's offering of the class, I am constantly on the lookout for other sources to use, so when Isaac Graves asked IDEA bloggers if anyone was interested in reviewing Yaacov Hecht's book, newly put out by AERO, entitled Democratic Education, I jumped at the chance. What I discovered upon reading it was confirmation of my belief that we can all be superheroes regarding improving the educational system --he and all the other democratic educators mentioned throughout the book are our models!
When I first received this 380+ page book in the mail, I worried that I wouldn't get thru it in time to do my June blog post, but here I am, less than 2 weeks later, writing my review. This book is a highly accessible and fascinating read. At first, I thought it would simply be the story of the democratic school of Hadera (the first Israeli democratic school, which Hecht helped to found) along the lines of my book Free School Teaching about the Albany Free School. What I found was so much more, no doubt due to the fact that Hecht has lived the life of a democratic educator/ networker/ international movement leader for the past 20+ years, whereas I only spent a mere 3 months at the Albany Free School. My reflections and knowledge depth about democratic education are absolutely paltry compared to his and thus I was excited to read his work. He not only described the historical development of the Democratic School of Hadera and others, detailing the structures, functions, and practices of children and adults in these learning communities, but he also expanded beyond mere descriptions of individual school and peoples' experiences and led us to the very core of what learning is, how it happens under optimal conditions, and how to work towards a better educational system and, ultimately, a better world.
Chapter 1 and 2 of the book provide us with Hecht's background and the initial development of the concepts of democratic education in Israel. In chapter 3, he beautifully explains the meaning of pluralistic learning, using imagery of “the square” and “the tight rope” to show us how limited conventional education's / society's understanding is of the vastness of knowledge and human potential. Chapter 4 continues the ideas with a clear examination of how people progress through the pluralistic learning process, moving from areas of strength to areas of growth, moving from not-knowing to knowing and back again. Hecht's use of explanatory visual images brings his points home with a power that words alone do not possess.
In chapter 4, Hecht not only describes students' learning processes, he also explores the transition problems students sometimes face when acclimating to this new definition of learning (that actually values them and their diversity), and he answers frequent criticisms/questions levied on democratic schools (a 36-page section that may be of significant use in my discussion of democratic schools with my many students).
Chapter 5 describes the role of the adults in democratic schools and the various traps that they (teachers, parents, etc.) go through when first encountering this new form of education. He illustrates that the schools are not merely places for children, but also can serve entire communities.
While chapters 1-5 were very engaging and interesting, chapters 6-8 were the ones that I felt offered some of the newest/most exciting information. In these chapters, Hecht describes how the founders of the Democratic School of Hadera were not content for their school to be a lone example of democratic educational practices, and so began an entire movement for democratic education in Israel which hooked into educational democratizing efforts worldwide. With tremendous depth, Hecht details how a movement gains momentum, what pitfalls exist, and what conditions lead to success. In these chapters, Hecht powerfully argues and, I think, proves that democratic education is not just about changing education, that it is also, in fact, about changing the world into one that is more sustainable, peaceful and creative (as opposed to destructive), and one that honors the dignity and contribution of each individual human and creature on this planet.
His book not only educated me, it also gave me tremendous hope. When discussing educational alternatives (democractic education in particular), so many of my students ask whether there is any hope -- can we possibly ever fix what ails us? Isn't the sort of change described by democratic educators actually impossible on a wide scale? Hecht answers a variation of these questions by saying that “a negative answer will surely lead” to a negative result (in that if one thinks change won't happen, then no one will work for it to happen). “Therefore, we have no choice [but] to cope with this challenge.” This superhero educator is basically telling us that, in the end, we are our own superheroes and if we want to see change, we have to make it happen. Democratic Education helps show us how to make our dreams for a better world become reality.
Posted in on Jun 20, 2011 - 03:21 PM
One of the things I love about summer is going to a nice air conditioned movie theater to lose myself in fantasy, drama, comedy, etc. for a couple of hours. I've been excited to notice that this summer there are a lot of superhero movies out there (Xmen, Thor, Green Lantern, Captain America, etc.) because I just love superheroes -- as a kid I tried to turn myself into Wonder Woman after watching Lynda Carter do it on TV. My spinning around never resulted in any transformation, but a girl can dream, can't she?I've been thinking lately about how superhero stories are so popular and wondering what this says about our collective cultural psyche. Do we somehow, deep down, desire to save the world and make it a better place? Or is it that we think only someone special can do it and we can only wait and watch on the sidelines? I want to think it is the former -- that we all want to be “super” and help to bring about change. I mean, as a kid I was trying to turn myself into Wonder Woman, not Steve Trevor (her clueless boss/ victim of various Nazi plots/ romantic interest)!
I am currently teaching an online summer graduate class on educational alternatives and many of the students seem to be struggling -- not with the values and concepts underlying educational alternatives so much, but rather with a wistful hope that we could make conventional public schools more like the alternatives about which we're reading. I get the sense sometimes that some of my students are wishing for a superhero to jump in and save the day, educationally speaking, to fix what ails our current systems and make it all better in a flash. My students struggle, as do I, with the huge question of whether or not we will ever see substantive change in our approach to educating youth. I wish I could tell them a hero/ great educational leader/ mutant/ creature from another planet was on his/her way to save us all from the iron grip of NCLB-Man and his minions, Standard Curriculum Boy and Grade Monger. But that would be giving false hope as well as denying my students the opportunity to see themselves as heroes/change agents for a brighter, more democratic/egalitarian tomorrow.
Even though my readings are already chosen for this summer's offering of the class, I am constantly on the lookout for other sources to use, so when Isaac Graves asked IDEA bloggers if anyone was interested in reviewing Yaacov Hecht's book, newly put out by AERO, entitled Democratic Education, I jumped at the chance. What I discovered upon reading it was confirmation of my belief that we can all be superheroes regarding improving the educational system --he and all the other democratic educators mentioned throughout the book are our models!
When I first received this 380+ page book in the mail, I worried that I wouldn't get thru it in time to do my June blog post, but here I am, less than 2 weeks later, writing my review. This book is a highly accessible and fascinating read. At first, I thought it would simply be the story of the democratic school of Hadera (the first Israeli democratic school, which Hecht helped to found) along the lines of my book Free School Teaching about the Albany Free School. What I found was so much more, no doubt due to the fact that Hecht has lived the life of a democratic educator/ networker/ international movement leader for the past 20+ years, whereas I only spent a mere 3 months at the Albany Free School. My reflections and knowledge depth about democratic education are absolutely paltry compared to his and thus I was excited to read his work. He not only described the historical development of the Democratic School of Hadera and others, detailing the structures, functions, and practices of children and adults in these learning communities, but he also expanded beyond mere descriptions of individual school and peoples' experiences and led us to the very core of what learning is, how it happens under optimal conditions, and how to work towards a better educational system and, ultimately, a better world.
Chapter 1 and 2 of the book provide us with Hecht's background and the initial development of the concepts of democratic education in Israel. In chapter 3, he beautifully explains the meaning of pluralistic learning, using imagery of “the square” and “the tight rope” to show us how limited conventional education's / society's understanding is of the vastness of knowledge and human potential. Chapter 4 continues the ideas with a clear examination of how people progress through the pluralistic learning process, moving from areas of strength to areas of growth, moving from not-knowing to knowing and back again. Hecht's use of explanatory visual images brings his points home with a power that words alone do not possess.
In chapter 4, Hecht not only describes students' learning processes, he also explores the transition problems students sometimes face when acclimating to this new definition of learning (that actually values them and their diversity), and he answers frequent criticisms/questions levied on democratic schools (a 36-page section that may be of significant use in my discussion of democratic schools with my many students).
Chapter 5 describes the role of the adults in democratic schools and the various traps that they (teachers, parents, etc.) go through when first encountering this new form of education. He illustrates that the schools are not merely places for children, but also can serve entire communities.
While chapters 1-5 were very engaging and interesting, chapters 6-8 were the ones that I felt offered some of the newest/most exciting information. In these chapters, Hecht describes how the founders of the Democratic School of Hadera were not content for their school to be a lone example of democratic educational practices, and so began an entire movement for democratic education in Israel which hooked into educational democratizing efforts worldwide. With tremendous depth, Hecht details how a movement gains momentum, what pitfalls exist, and what conditions lead to success. In these chapters, Hecht powerfully argues and, I think, proves that democratic education is not just about changing education, that it is also, in fact, about changing the world into one that is more sustainable, peaceful and creative (as opposed to destructive), and one that honors the dignity and contribution of each individual human and creature on this planet.
His book not only educated me, it also gave me tremendous hope. When discussing educational alternatives (democractic education in particular), so many of my students ask whether there is any hope -- can we possibly ever fix what ails us? Isn't the sort of change described by democratic educators actually impossible on a wide scale? Hecht answers a variation of these questions by saying that “a negative answer will surely lead” to a negative result (in that if one thinks change won't happen, then no one will work for it to happen). “Therefore, we have no choice [but] to cope with this challenge.” This superhero educator is basically telling us that, in the end, we are our own superheroes and if we want to see change, we have to make it happen. Democratic Education helps show us how to make our dreams for a better world become reality.
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Kristan Morrison
Jun 21, 2011 - 11:25 AM
Thanks for your comments, Kirsten. I guess what I was trying to do in the post with my use of the superhero idea was to push the thought that we can all be superheroes (people who push for change). For example, I wrote, “I wish I could tell them [my students] a hero/ great educational leader/ mutant/ creature from another planet was on his/her way to save us all from the iron grip of NCLB-Man and his minions, Standard Curriculum Boy and Grade Monger. But that would be giving false hope as well as denying my students the opportunity to see themselves as heroes/change agents for a brighter, more democratic/egalitarian tomorrow.” and closed with “This superhero educator is basically telling us that, in the end, we are our own superheroes and if we want to see change, we have to make it happen. Democratic Education helps show us how to make our dreams for a better world become reality.”
I guess I was calling Hecht a superhero in the above, but trying (apparently unsuccessfully) to get across to readers that we can all be these people.