Thread by @JessedHagopian

Proposal: Let’s end the segregation of accidemic disciplines (a thread).

A lot of teachers are enamored w/ their subject areas, but what if we stop separating classes based on academic disciplines & based them on questions that need addressing & problems that need solving...

What if instead of Math, Language Arts, Social Studies, we had (for example) a class called, “Should our city defund the police?” The class could analyze city budgets & learn about percentages; read about the history of policing, & write policy proposals & poems about policing.

What if we had a class called, “Should fossil fuel companies be allowed to exist?” Students could study the science of climate change; the math of renewable energy; the history of environment movements; & write essays on their conclusions to share with local & national leaders.

Problem based learning isn’t a new concept, but it is urgently needed today to move beyond a capitalist vision of schooling that is rooted in competition, & measured in test scores and grades. Education should be about collaborative problem solving!

Education must address the immense problems in our world today: A global pandemic, endless war, unprecedented wealth inequity, mass incarceration & police violence, rape culture & a sexual assault epidemic, transphobic attacks, & climate change threatening the future of humanity.

Education is too often celebrated as the force that can help the US compete in the global economy. In reality, that kind of education is about sorting kids into positions as mangers of the economy, low wage workers who are exploited, and those who aren’t needed & put in prison.

We have to organize to stop education from being about integrating kids into the racists, sexist, transphobic, homophobic, and inequitable society we live in.

Education has to be about solving social problems—not about just preparing them for the “real world”, but preparing them to change the world!

We also need to understand school is not the only place education occurs. The Black Lives Matter uprising—often led by young people—has been the greatest teacher in my lifetime. It has taught so many about the ugliness of structural racism & the beauty of collective struggle.

The best classrooms look to ways to connect the curriculum to the social movements in the streets and workplaces.

I’m inspired to freedom dream about the transformation of education by so many educators, students, parents and organizers in the struggle. It’s an honor to work alongside you all.

What other problem based learning classes would your freedom school have?