"The whole movement of life is learning" (Krishnamurti). "To be an act of knowing, then, the adult literacy process must engage the learners in the constant problematizing of their existential situations" (Freire). "Once you learn to read, you will be forever free" (Douglass). "I can learn anything I have the desire to learn" (White, S.G.).

Monday, April 22, 2013

Earth day and the abolition movement

Zinn Education Project
Classmates: since we have all come to "read" the world differently, I wanted to share something with you about Earth Day. This article was in my Facebook feed, and I must admit, I would never have compared Earth Day to the Abolition movement. Curiosity got the best of me; I had to read more and share it with you.   Forgive me for over-posting this week!

To begin, the Zinn Education Project is connected to Teaching For Change.  You can find more on TFC by clicking on their icon in the upper right of our blog.  TFC/Zinn challenge us to dig  a little deeper into what we teach our kids today, question the assumptions we promote, and provide a more balanced, historical perspective.  Hmm, that sounds familiar!  So, by digging a little deeper into the Earth Day/global warming movement, Zinn compares it to the struggles faced by Abolitionists in 19th century America.

Susangale wrote in her blog post about the ways we don't challenge the truths and assumptions that comprise our worlds.  I  am certainly guilty of that.  While I don't know how I feel about global warming, I believe that, in order to take a stand on an  issue, it is necessary to question the many truths, assumptions, and science that surround it.  How else can we be fully informed?  Furthermore, if we propose to teach these "facts" to our children (and adult learners!), we owe it to them to provide a more balanced approach. OK, sorry to be so preach-y.

I hope this post leaves you curious enough to check out the Zinn Ed Project.  It's worth a quick read.  Thanks for taking the time to read this post, "the other Susan."
Posted by at
Labels:

1 comment:

  1. Bill MuthApril 22, 2013 at 9:42 PM

    Go Susan Watson! Our last class will be something new (at least for me). Tami Sober, a new doc student in our new Curriculum, Culture and Change track, will do a presentation on community activism. Tami currently works for the Virginia Education Association (she's as close to a union organizer as you can get in right-to-work state Virginia). This class will be a bit of a leap, since I am not a community organizer and certainly have not prepared you all for this level of praxis. But it will be a logical extension of the conscientization work we have been doing. So, thanks for getting us revved up for Tami!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts on this post. Diverse opinions are welcomed.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)