Meier Article

Meier
Educating a Democracy
What do you need to have a democracy?
-diverse opinions and a way to work together with those diverse opinions
-power to do something about your opinions
Democracy is messy because everyone has those diverse opinions.
You need to be comfortable with that and appreciate it because it will ultimately make for better results as we share and combine our diverse opinions.

Schools need to be a democracy, not a dictatorship. How else are we going to teach students how to live in and appreciate and contribute to a democratic society?
Build relationships with your students. Let them have opinions and disagreements and learn how to deal with those civilly and effectively. Also, let them see that it's ok to disagree with your colleagues and school leaders in a professional way - that you can agree to disagree or compromise and not go beat someone up just because you don't agree with their opinions.

Yes, we have to have organization, curriculum, rules, etc., but people should still be able to have opinions and choices and a voice.

National or local control?
A little of both - national standards with local control
We need to let communities and schools and teachers make decisions and have a voice while still maintaining high standards and achieving as a nation.