Reclaiming democratic education : student and teacher activism and the future of education policy / Christopher D. Thomas.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 123-136) and index.

Student and teacher civic activism and the future of education policy -- History of student protests in the United States -- Teacher civic activism in American history -- The A nation at risk paradigm and student and teacher civic agency -- Understanding student protests and teacher strikes at the intersection of the A nation at risk paradigm and the history of student and teacher civic activism -- Embracing student and teacher civic agency and reclaiming 'education for citizenship' -- The question is not whether to respond to student and teacher activism but how.

"Since the spring of 2018, hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, and their allies have protested at or against their schools. These students and teachers have been protesting on a wide range of issues from gun control and climate change to the underfunding of education and institutional responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Reclaiming Democratic Education, Chris Thomas examines how these activities exist at the intersection of two conflicting traditions. The book looks at a history of student and teacher activism that aligns with the democratic purposes of public education. This history is now colliding with current policies that privilege the economic aims of education and restrict civic agency. By situating contemporary activism within these conflicting traditions, Thomas demonstrates how these activities constitute a rejection of the currently dominant policy paradigm in U.S. education. Thomas concludes with a discussion of how activism provides a foundation from which concerned teachers, school leaders, and policymakers can develop a new model for American education, one that reclaims an education for citizenship. Book Features: Traces the interconnected histories of student and teacher activism, from the Revolutionary Period through the Common School Movement and the decade of protests in the 1960s to today. Demonstrates how education policy positions teachers as the passive recipients of policy, who are often expected to sacrifice their own wellbeing for that of their students. Provides a roadmap of policy shifts that would disrupt the currently dominant paradigm in American education and realize an Education for Citizenship paradigm."--Publisher.