Educating for The Seventh Generation
Fall 1999, v15-4
	-John Terry What if schools worked collectively within their communities, preparing youth to enter healthy sustainable relationships with themselves, others, and the biosphere? And what if new partnerships could flourish among teachers and youth, youth and youth, teachers and parents, and home and school? Examples of such environments abound, and are models for the future. This article explores a vision of such a future, with emphasis on one such innovative program: The Gulf of Maine Institute Without Walls. Every dawn as it comes is a holy event, and every day is holy, for the light comes from your Father Wakan-Tanka (the Great Spirit); and also you must remember that the two leggeds and all the other peoples who stand upon this earth are sacred and should be treated as such. --Black Elk, Oglala Sioux Holy Man [1] Observing the Dawn As the dawn of the new millennium breaks we would be wise to follow Black Elk's further counsel, and plan for the "seventh generation" hence [9]. To achieve this we need to ensure a process that provides for the spiritual, educational, and physical needs of the seventh generation. Such planning requires the ability to frame questions that will kindle the rethinking of education. But what will the population look like in years to come? Demographers point out that the trend toward increased ethnic diversity in the U.S. and Canada will not peak until well into the 20th century. The majority in North America will no longer be white; pluralism will be the rule. Already most middle-sized to large urban schools include diverse ethnic, racial, and social class populations. Many urban schools are now predominantly minority. Soon the Hispanic population will equal and surpass the African-American population. Every day, new arrivals, from Asia, South America, the Middle East, and the Balkans--fleeing political, ethnic, and/or religious persecution--seek refuge and freedom in North America. Many of them bring religions, traditions, and languages foreign to mainstream North America. Some have emigrated from countries with few or shallow democratic roots. The early decades of this century, similarly, saw large numbers of immigrants: in this case from Ireland and Eastern Europe, bringing "foreign customs," languages, and Catholicism. The response to these new waves was neither welcoming nor inclusive. Three related social movements converged to limit the opportunities for the new immigrants: the eugenics, the IQ and testing, and the vocational school movements (see the sidebar that follows). Despite their cloak of scientific respectability, these three movements were deeply influenced by racial, social, class, and gender biases. Together they created a climate of school reform that resulted in uniformly rigid, stratified schools modeled after that early 20th century paradigm of efficiency--the factory.
	Sidebar 1: The Social Movements of the 20th Century
	The more humane and egalitarian movements of the past several decades (the civil rights, women's, and gay /lesbian rights movements) have done much to challenge, if not vanquish, the clinging remnants of that past. The best tool available for teaching democratic values and a positive view of diversity is education! And the prima donna institution best deployed to accomplish this, in conjunction with the community, is formal public education. The best tool available for teaching democratic values and a positive view of diversity is education! And the prima donna institution best deployed to accomplish this, in conjunction with the community, is formal public education. Educating for a Civic Culture Let's seize the new millennium and negotiate a new public contract for our public schools: one in which schools educate for a civic culture that promotes a virtue common to all--a civic culture that embraces divergent cultural and religious views, respects biodiversity, and ensures a sustainable planet. Such a civic culture should pose no legitimate threat to religious or individual freedom--quite the contrary. How do we invite such a diverse infusion of peoples into our communities and schools and simultaneously guarantee all will be treated as sacred for the next seven generations? What might our school/community vision be? Some of these questions have been addressed democratic thinkers who provide support for the idea that educating for a secular culture is educating for democracy. Thomas Jefferson argued that the survival of a democratic society depends on the ability of schools to produce an informed, literate public. Horace Mann added that promotion of democratic virtues requires schools to provide a common political culture. John Dewey insisted that the virtues and habits of living in a democratic society are learned through experience, and that the learning experiences that nurture the acquisition of those virtues must be integral to the school curriculum and culture [2]. More recently, Brazilian educator Paulo Freire provided a key insight: education should be liberating. Liberation occurs within the context of history and community. Every human, regardless of their current condition, is educable and capable of exercising political control over their life and contributing to the health of community life [3]. Grounding these ideas to a community youth development framework creates exciting possibilities--where schools play an active role in the rebuilding of community; where schools are engaged in the healthy development of their community; where schools nurture habits of the heart and mind that are liberating and healthy; and where young people are empowered to expand human potential, sustain biological diversity, and nurture democratic principles. Of course, creating such schools would fly in the face of traditional top-down (and for that matter, bottom-up) reform challenging the CYD movement to formulate new strategies of inclusion and intentional evolutionary reform. New understandings and methodologies for participation provide us the tools to effectively turn schools into learning communities--environments where broad-based participation leads to healthy, democratic communities and enhances the school's capacity to fulfill its mandate. The daily participants in the activity of schooling--teachers, parents, students--need not be procedurally excluded from the process of defining a problem and prescribing a solution. Watering the Roots of the Future Dewey and Freire insist that educating for democracy extends beyond the exercise of memorizing facts or comparing and contrasting abstract ideas or data. Knowing the specific causes of the American Revolution or the Civil War, for example, does not guarantee that a student will be tolerant or fair and practice the virtues of social justice, any more than cramming for a final exam in religion guarantees an epiphany. It is axiomatic in the field of community psychology that empowerment at the local level is achieved through participation by the local community. This principle also applies to schools. Yet, until recently, few successful models for local community development in schools seem entrenched and enduring. Now the tide is turning: substantial knowledge and experience has resulted in burgeoning efforts across North America, and indeed the world. Some of these efforts have been discussed in previous issues of New Designs and the reader will find more in this issue. Picture schools working collectively within their communities preparing youth to enter healthy sustainable relationships with themselves, others, and the biosphere. Within the classroom, teachers join in the learning process with students. Social justice begins with the expectation that every student, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, class, or physical or mental challenge, is a resource--a valuable contribution to the intellectual and spiritual life of the class and the community. Students actively help each other succeed. Working in teams, students learn to value and employ all members as resources. Students engage in an intuitive understanding of the processes and values that undergird a democratic society, a healthy community, and a sustainable biosphere. This environment is ripe with questions in search of answers that take learners beyond exchanges of information, along open-ended dialectical paths. These questions might include: "Who is in control of the use and development of our environment, including our technologies and economies?" "Who is to decide how these technologies and economies will be used?" "What effects will today's decisions have on seven generations hence?" Beyond the classroom, the school develops the capacity to direct and control its own community in a way that models the classroom. In the process of developing this capacity, new forms of parent/teacher/youth collaboration flourish. These collaborative efforts, working toward nurturing healthy local conditions for a healthy community, expand throughout and beyond the school and community. Each generation, in partnership with the past, builds democracy anew. A Window to the Future: The Gulf of Maine Institute Without Walls Does this all seem far-fetched? Examples, though perhaps imperfect in their development, abound. I refer the reader again to previous articles in past issues. These are not the stories of the exception by rather the stories of the future. A closer look at one intriguing project will serve to demonstrate just how far we have come over the past few decades in our thinking and practice. The tip of Cape Cod heading north through Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick Canada, then west across the isthmus and south, down to the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia, is the coastal area that defines the Gulf of Maine. The coastline provides some of the most spectacular and scenic land and seascape in North America; its Bay of Fundy boasts the highest tides in the world. Summer home to the endangered right whale, the Gulf of Maine and its watershed is a distinct region, its shallow gulf one of the richest regions in terms of biomass in the world. The watershed land mass shared by Canada and the U.S. is divided into five political jurisdictions (three New England states and two provinces) and is rich in racial and ethnic diversity--still home to the Mi'g Mag Indians and the French-speaking Acadians. But all is not well in this Eden. Increasingly, commercial species in the Gulf are declining, forcing the governments of Canada and the U.S. to take strict measures to save the fish stocks and stimulate their recovery. These efforts have affected the livelihood of everyone remotely connected with commercial fishing. In addition, population pressures along the Gulf of Maine coast extend up the rivers far into the watershed and threaten to destabalize delicate feeder systems to the Gulf. For a small, dedicated group of scientists, educators, and environmental activists throughout the Gulf of Maine, the current crisis only underscores the need for long-term stewardship of this resource. Such stewardship, this group reasons, can only come if youth understand and work locally with adults in their schools and communities to preserve their own watershed and, by working across national boundaries, that of the bioregion. For several years, this group has been working to design and implement an exciting new educational initiative named the Gulf of Maine Institute Without Walls (GMIWW). Still in its early development, GMIWW has developed partnerships and educational initiatives between adults and youth in five watershed sites -- one each in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia--using an innovative service-learning model called Kids Involved Doing Service or KIDS. The credo of the GMIWW is this: Youth are our most valuable resources, as the citizens, scientists, decision-makers, and cultural transmitters of tomorrow. If we are to ensure a sustainable future for the Gulf of Maine region, we must engage in actions today that create and support networks of people who care about it as a rich and varied resource in perpetuity. Learning through doing, in apprenticeship and partnership with adults, is the most effective way to prepare youth to work toward securing this future. Each of the five sites has developed teams that link schools with university departments and community-based environmental groups. A Guide Team, composed of two founding members and at least one youth from each site , has been designated to oversee the GMIWW. Its specific activities include: Creating a network of educators and community partners focused on providing watershed-based, service-learning opportunities for youth throughout the Gulf of Maine bioregion. Launching pilot watershed education projects throughout the Gulf, beginning with five pilot projects this fall. (See the sidebar that follows for a brief description of the pilot sites). Providing networking, training, and learning opportunities for adults and youth engaged in the pilot projects through an annual Summer Institute.
	Sidebar 2: The Five Pilot Projects for the GMIWW
	There are many exciting anticipated outcomes of this innovation: Changes in school curriculum and practice Empowering youth to partner with local communities A self-sustaining summer institute Dissemination of the Gulf of Maine model to other sites A cadre of trainers to implement the methodology at new sties A more effective and responsible stewardship of the Gulf of Maine The citizenship skills that youth will develop as part of these projects [at the Gulf of Maine Institute Withouth Walls] are precisely the building blocks of a secular culture that strengthens democracy and supports a sustaining stewardship of a precious bioregion. Real-life issues and concerns to be addressed by students, teachers, and community partners as part of the GMIWW relate directly to responsible stewardship of coastal and marine habitats. More significant is the simple fact that the citizenship skills that youth will develop as part of these projects are precisely the building blocks of a secular culture that strengthens democracy and supports a sustaining stewardship of a precious bioregion. The future is at hand. We have the demographic knowledge, the right questions, the technical skills, and appropriate models needed to plan for the seventh generation. What we need muster is the political will. Author bio John Terry has a Ph.D. in Community Social Psychology from Boston College. Before becoming editor-in-chief of New Designs for Youth Development, he was Director of Research and Evaluation for Associate for Youth Development. His many years of experience in the fields of education, prevention, and community youth development include 15 years at MIT, where he taught courses on the role of education in society, supervised the MIT teacher education program, directed the MIT Wellesley College Upward Bound Program, and founded an innovative state-wide teacher training program. While at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, he implemented a university-wide academic reorganization, evaluation, and self renewal, was principal investigator for the Lowell Community/University Partnership (a comprehensive, city-wide substance abuse prevention program), and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in psychology and primary prevention. References 1. Brown, Joseph Epes, The Sacred Pipe, Norman London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1953. (back) 2. Claus, Jeff and Curtis Ogden, eds., Service Learning for Youth Empowerment and Social Change, Peter Lang Publishing Inc., New York, 1999. (back) 3. Dewy, John, Democracy and Education, The Free Press Division of MacMillan, New York, 1966. (back) 4. Freire, Paulo, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, English Translation by M.B. Ramos, Continuum Publications, New York, 1970. 5. Gould, Stephen J., The Mismeasure of Man, W, W, Norton and Co., New York, 1981. 6. Grubb, W. and M. Lazerson, "Vocational Education in American Schooling: Historical Perspectives," Inequality in Education, 1974. 7. Lofquist, William, The Youth Opportunity Planning Process, AYD Publications, 1990. 8. McKnight, John, The Careless Society: Community and its Counterfeits, Basic Books,, A Division of Harper Collins, 1995. 9. Neihardt, John G., Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NB, 1988. (back) 10. Stainback, William and Stainback, Susan. Support Networks for Inclusive Schools, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1990. 12. Stainback, Susan and Stainback, William. Curriculum Considerations for Inclusive Classrooms, Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co,. Baltimore, 1992. 13. Terry, John P. and Dosher. Anne, "An Intentional Evolutionary Design for Evaluation of Community Development: An Approach Based upon Appreciative Inquiry, New Designs for Youth Development, Fall 1993. 14. Wheately, Margaret J,, Leadership and the New Science: Learning about Organization from an orderly Universe,, San Francisco, 1994
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