Since the spring of 2018, hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, and their allies have protested at or against their schools. These students and teachers have been protesting on a wide range of issues, from gun control and climate change to the underfunding of education and institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Reclaiming Democratic Education, Chris Thomas examines how these activities exist at the intersection of two conflicting traditions-where student and teacher activism that aligns with the democratic purposes of public education collides with current policies that privilege the economic aims of education and restrict civic agency. By situating contemporary activism within these conflicting traditions, Thomas demonstrates how these activities constitute a rejection of the currently dominant policy paradigm in U.S. education. Thomas concludes with a discussion of how activism provides a foundation from which concerned teachers, school leaders, and policymakers can develop a new model for American education, one that reclaims an education for citizenship. Book Features: Traces the interconnected histories of student and teacher activism, from the Revolutionary Period through the Common School Movement and the decade of protests in the 1960s to today. Demonstrates how education policy positions teachers as passive recipients of policy, who are often expected to sacrifice their own well-being for that of their students. Provides a roadmap for policy shifts that disrupt the currently dominant paradigm in American education and realize an Education for Citizenship paradigm.
Christopher D. Thomas is a practicing attorney with Frost Brown Todd LLC, where he represents local school districts and other governmental entities. Prior to practicing law, Chris was a high school English teacher. He earned his JD and PhD in educational studies, specializing in educational policy, from The Ohio State University.
Contents Acknowledgments?ix 1.??Student and Teacher Civic Activism and the Future of Education Policy?1 The Student Protests of the Spring of 2018?3 The Teacher Strikes of the Spring of 2018?4 Historical Context of Student and Teacher Activism?8 The Political Context of Student and Teacher Activism?10 Organization of the Book?11 2.??History of Student Protests in the United States?14 Early Student Protests From the Revolutionary War Through the Late 1800s?15 A Burlesque on Strikes: The First Reported Primary and Secondary Student Protests, 1886?17 A National Trend of Local Protests: Student Protests From 1886-1934?22 Connecting the Local, the National, and the Global: The Student Protest Movements of 1935-1974?28 Business as Usual or the Calm Before the Storm? Student Protests From 1974 to the Parkland Protests?36 3.??Teacher Civic Activism in American History?38 A Period of Incubation: Teacher Civic Activism Until the 1940s?39 The Rise of Teachers' Unions: The Growing Teacher Strikes of 1940 Through the Early 1960s?43 Teachers and the Decade of Protest: The Mid-1960s to Early 1970s?45 Modern Teacher Strikes: Teacher Unions and the Emergence of Neoliberalism, 1974-Present?47 Putting the 2018 Student Protests and Teacher Strikes Into Historical Context?48 4.??The A Nation at Risk Paradigm and Student and Teacher Civic Agency?49 Democratic Citizenship as an Aim of Education?51 The A Nation at Risk Paradigm and its Impacts on Student and Teacher Civic Agency?54 5.??Understanding Student Protests and Teacher Strikes at the Intersection of the A Nation at Risk Paradigm and the History of Student and Teacher Civic Activism?70 The Improbable Protests: Student and Teacher Activism at the Intersection of Two Conflicting Traditions?72 Out of the Shadows: Embracing Student and Teacher Activism's Rejection of the A Nation at Risk Paradigm?92 6.??Embracing Student and Teacher Civic Agency and Reclaiming "Education for Citizenship"?95 Toward Realizing an Education for Citizenship Paradigm?99 7.??The Question Is Not Whether to Respond to Student and Teacher Civic Activism but How?117 References?123 Index?137 About the Author?149
"Thomas shows the possibility of new models to create education systems that present a new way forward. Building on his background in educational policy and law, he provides a context that is accessible to a wide range of readers looking to recover structures for schooling that promote democratic ideals such as deeper collaboration, collective agency, and empowerment." -CHOICE
