At the Center of All Possibilities

This book focuses on what learning our young people need if they are to become capable, responsible adults who are able to respond effectively to the crises we face today, and those that will arrive in the future.

Autorentext

Doug Selwyn has been an educator for more than thirty years. He was a K-12 teacher in the Seattle Public Schools from 1984 to 2000. He then moved to university, teaching at Antioch University in Seattle from 2000 to 2006, and then to the State University of New York at Plattsburgh from 2007 to 2017, when he retired. He was a professor of education at Plattsburgh working in teacher education, with undergraduates and graduates. He earned his Ed.D. from Seattle University in 1991.

Klappentext

At the Center of All Possibilities is built around a few fundamental questions: How can we best educate our children so that they have the skills, confidence, and knowledge to live lives of joy, fulfillment, and service to themselves, their communities, and the planet? What do our students need to know, what dispositions do they need to develop, and what social and emotional learning and support do they need so that they are able to respond to both the challenges and possibilities of a future they can't yet imagine? And how can we transform our current educational system into the system that will answer these questions? Doug Selwyn invited twenty educators and activists to respond to these fundamental questions in short essays or interviews. There has been no attempt to align them into a neat package: there are many points of view that we need to consider in our own unique circumstances, and there is value in gathering a range of thought and experience when considering how best to plan, and then to act. Moreover, the book urges us to begin planning and acting now for the education we want, rather than to put it off because of the crisis of the moment. One of the central responsibilities of a society to provide the best education we can to the next generation so that they can lead their best lives, and these are our children. We owe them the very best education we can offer so that all of them can realize themselves at the center of all possibilities.

Inhalt

Acknowledgments Introduction Richard Wilkinson: (De)- Graded by Inequality Stephen Bezruchka: Teaching Knowledge and Action to Promote Health Improvement Doug Selwyn: The Purpose of Education: A Brief History Sandra Mathison/E. Wayne Ross: Beyond Education as Usual: Public Education in a Post- Covid World Jo Cripps: Love in the Time of Covid Peter Suruda: The Remote Suburbs Don Fels: Risk, Inquiry, and Learning Social Studies, Intersectionality, and the Re Humanizing of Education: A Conversation with Jerry Price Alberto "Beto" Gutierrez: Contextualizing Student Needs Post Pandemic Jean Mendoza/Debbie Reese: Dear Educators: An Open Letter about How You Teach about Native Peoples Black Lives Matter at School: A Conversation with Jesse Hagopian Yves Salomon- Fernández: Evolving Higher Education for a New Consciousness Jan Maher: Disposed to Democracy Alyssa Arnell/Leo Hwang/Linda McCarthy: Finding Our Paths to Social Justice Education Transforming the Teacher Corps: A Conversation with Wayne Au Caroline Whitcomb: Freedom Schools Assessing What Matters: A Conversation with Jack Schneider Assessing What Matters: A Conversation with Jack Schneider Greta Thunberg: School Strike for Climate: Save the World by Changing the Rules We Are Suing the U.S. Government: A Conversation with Aji Piper Aji Piper's Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis (Excerpts) (April 4, 2019) Final Thoughts (for Now) Contributors.