HOW HE SEES IT Education emphasis: learning to think

In the early 1970's, I joined with several hundred other idealistic individuals in the creation of a unique experiment in educational innovation and community building called the School Without Walls in Rochester, N.Y. For me, the most salient memory of this alternative high school remains the weekly town meetings during which students and faculty gathered to create community, establish policy and wrestle with the challenge of defining a collective identity.
In particular, I remember the meetings during which we defined strategy to advocate for our continued funding after the superintendent of schools had recommended that the three alternative schools in our district be eliminated in response to budgetary challenges. Our entire community spent weeks devising and coordinating strategy, meeting with the media, speaking before the board of education, going door to door to generate support, and encouraging one another as energy waned and hopes were dashed. I count the successful campaign we waged as my first and most enduring lesson in political advocacy and community organizing.
Recently, I have been reflecting a great deal on those heady days from a more idealistic and seemingly less complicated stage in my personal and political development. Intuitively, I have always understood that rich life lessons were to be gleaned from this formative experience; the exact nature of those lessons and their potential applications have always eluded me. Perhaps no longer.
Looking at Iraq
In the midst of a campaign to bring democracy and a modicum of the rule of law to the long-suffering citizens of Iraq, we can ill-afford to ignore the scandal of the quality of our own democratic heritage and civic culture. Respected public opinion polls and other barometers of the health of the democratic process consistently point to low levels of voting among those eligible to do so, and a generally inert, alienated and ill-informed citizenry.
Surveys show that a relatively low percentage of those responding are able to identify their elected representatives, demonstrate more than a superficial awareness of important public policy issues or identify texts such as the Bill of Rights. What are the implications for the success of our great experiment in democratic self-government if the citizenry is largely incapable of or uninterested in upholding its part of the covenant? Are the sources of these dynamics primarily systemic in nature? What strategies are most likely to be effective in reversing trends that don't bode well for the vibrancy of our institutions and the cohesiveness of our collective identity?
While complicated, deep-seated societal problems don't lend themselves to an easy fix or facile solution, a start in addressing these dynamics must reside in our school systems. Generally speaking, we must empower those entrusted with the responsibility of educating our children to supplant the culture of rights and entitlement so prevalent in our culture with an ethos of responsibility and interdependence. Learning must be understood as occurring primarily during those precious moments when a sense of mutual trust enables disparate individuals to become a community with the courage to challenge conventional wisdom and pursue truth. Teaching must revolve around the development of critical thinking skills rather than the acquisition of discrete bodies of information. Students must be guided by individuals secure enough to desire questions and welcome the challenges to their authority, which are inevitable by-products of this style of learning. Seemingly ancient texts must be made to come alive again.
In my view, the following tangible and concrete ideas flow logically from the generic educational philosophy and vision of community I have just described.
UCreative ways must be found in all educational systems to involve students in matters of school governance, so that the patterns of assuming responsibility for one's community become ingrained at an early age.
U The nature of elections for school office should be radically changed from popularity contests to serious and meaningful opportunities to evaluate alternative solutions to a variety of problems confronting that school. Platforms should be formulated, debates held, endorsements of the school newspaper sought, and campaigns waged.
UTown meetings ought to be held on a regular basis so that meaningful opportunities for dialogue between students and school administrators become part of the fabric of education.
Innovative ways must be found to eliminate the cognitive dissonance between students and the candidates for local and national office, so that the consequences of the results these elections assume real and tangible meaning.
UThe educational curriculum at all levels must include serious discussion of national elections, so that students are equipped to identify candidates for office, understand the ideological and policy distinctions separating them, and develop criteria for evaluating the respective approaches.
UThe right to vote must be understood and presented in historical context, so that students have a frame of reference for relating to the responsibility of voting as an element of citizenship.
When I first visited Israel, in the summer of 1971, I remember vividly a particular experience riding in a cab. My cousin and I were engaging in conversation when the cab driver turned to us with indignation and told us to be quiet. What was the occasion that generated his need for quiet and undivided attention? He was trying to listen to the news, a moment which in this beleaguered country assumes almost sacred significance. In looking for a benchmark against which to measure the vibrancy of our democratic heritage, a sense of urgency about listening to the news is not a bad place to start.
XRabbi Simeon Kolko is spiritual leader of Beth Israel Temple Center in Warren.