A New School Year, with Big Implications
A new school year is a chance for renewal, in more ways than one
I LOVE the beginning of each school year. The start of school offers a fresh start; a time when everyone can begin again, putting their best foot forward. Kids get to reconnect with friends. And there's the excitement, even when mixed with nervousness, about getting to know new teachers, new schedules, new schools.
The new school year also offers the opportunity to pause and think about the bigger picture. This year, I'm thinking a lot about the important role our public schools play in the future of our democracy. John Dewey, perhaps the most influential educator in American history, wrote more than a century ago that "democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife." What does this mean?
"Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife." -John Dewey (1899)
Well, it certainly reflects the importance of our schools in teaching basic skills that help be an effective citizen. You can't make good democratic choices if you don't have enough math skills to understand data about our world, enough knowledge of history to understand the successes and failures of the past, enough science to understand how facts about the world are discovered and confirmed, enough social studies to understand the value of voting rights and the rule of law.
But all these things are really only the icing on the cake. At its core, democracy is the best and fairest way we know to choose who gets to be in charge of our society. And it only works when people with different backgrounds, different beliefs, different interests, and different needs agree to work out their many conflicts without violence and with some measure of mutual respect. Democracy is only possible when people, with all their inevitable conflicts, also understand the commonalities they share. Public school, above and beyond any other place in society today, is where this understanding is forged. Kids learn the most important lessons for democracy not from any formal curriculum, but from the daily interactions they have with teachers, staff, and each other in their classrooms, on their playgrounds, and riding their school buses. They learn respect versus bullying, facts versus lies, and fairness versus injustice from the everyday practice of attending and participating in school, rather than any specific lesson plan.
So a new school year isn't just a moment in which kids get fresh pencils and notebooks. It also signals a new opportunity for our community to extend democracy to another generation-- as our parents did for us. While this may sound overly earnest or grandiose, John Dewey was right: democracy requires renewal through our schools.
So as kids get back to school in East Penn next week, let’s cheer fresh starts both big and small.
If you're interested in reading more about democracy and our schools:
And finally, a shoutout to all the new newsletter subscribers who have joined over the last two weeks: thank you for your interest in our schools! I hope you’ll share this with friends, families, and neighbors.