Dear Karla,
You ask me to define democracy, and then provide me of an example of the rifest democracy controversy of the decade in the debate of how to be inclusive of Muslims in America. I believe American culture (definition: the white American culture of power) may have the most to learn from those willing to extend good will after so little good will has been extended to them.

A portion of Asad's description of his perfect school is, "to help students integrate into American society, while retaining their identity."  I have to ask, is integration the ideal of democracy for minorities?  Or is democracy looking at the culture of power and putting it in check so all communities have access to the advantages of the culture of power?  Or is it simply understanding the rules of the culture of power so one can become a part of the privileged? If so, as a privileged white American, what must I give up in order for others to gain access?  Is this the heart of our century long struggle for democracy, the people who have power do not want to give it up?

I reread the Lisa Delpit article last week, The Silenced Dialog.  I had read it many times before, but experienced it differently this time.  Before I read it, I read another article discussing why it was so hard to get teachers to change their teaching to more progressive methods (i.e.) project based learning.  Essentially it said that progressive teaching requires teachers to teach in a way that they have never been taught, and while we may implement parts and pieces of the methods, we never are able to truly let go of our previous cultural thinking around they way teaching is done.

The second article was about teaching as a cultural activity and it compared the US method of teaching mathematics with that of Japan's.  In US classrooms we are predominantly concerned with kids getting the "right" answer and knowing the "right" method of solving problems.  In Japan, teachers are mainly concerned with documenting students’ thinking, right or wrong, and discussing students’ thought processes, deconstructing the work to understand where students go wrong and why.  Japan has far superior scores to the US in math.  Is it their methods? Is this democratic teaching?

After the first two readings I was feeling confident that I knew the best method of instruction, a way of learning that would work for all students.  The third reading was Delpit.  I was thrown once again into doubt.

“The following discussion will explicate these aspects of power and their relevance into the schism between liberal educational movements (progressive teaching) and that of non-white, non-middle-class teachers and communities.”

“I describe the estrangement that I and many teachers of color feel from the progressive movement when writing process advocates dismiss us as too skills-oriented.”

Delpit says that while we progressive educators want the same for our our child as everyone else’s, parents outside of the culture of power want, “to ensure that the school provides their children with discourse patterns, interactional styles, and spoken and written language codes that will allow them success in the larger society.”

After Delpit, we read Doug Lamov, Teach like a Champion.  It was not my first experience with Lamov.  After leaving my last school (a project-based charter school in Denver, CO), I have chosen to work in a “no excuses” charter.  The school uses the Uncommon Schools’ Taxonomy, 49 tips to becoming a “Champion Teacher.”  I sat in on a Doug Lamov training session in Boston recently.

I was struck by how little discussion there was on the taxonomy during the training.  Questions focused on the how of implementing the 49 techniques, not the why.  Two weeks later, we had a guest speaker from an Uncommon school in New York.  The training used many of the same teaching video clips I had seen previously at the Lamov training and the same methodology.  This time however people asked questions challenging the why of the taxonomy.  These question caused a heated discussion in our cohort as many felt the questioning was disrespectful and others felt it was natural to question for the purpose of learning.  Isn’t this democracy, the right of the student to question?

As a student in a Lamov style classroom, I felt stifled.  I felt my individual learning style was not valued and that if I did not conform, some punishment awaited me and I am a 35 year old graduate student.  How would a younger student feel, particularly one who was just beginning to develop his own learning style?  Does democracy allow for the stifling of the individual’s quest for self in order to get through the lesson?

Friday night I went to see Waiting for Superman.  My heart strings were pulled.  I wept a little and yet I still have a difficult time believing that the charter school sector, which provides only 4% of all American children with an education, is the answer to the reform movement that needs to happen in this country so all students have access to a public education that includes them in the 21st century economy.  Is this democracy, educating students so they can work and earn a comfortable living?

In your letter yow wrote:
I mention this (Asad’s School) because the kind of democratic school to adequately serve Somali children may vary from one that supports a different population or community.  So, what is democracy to you and how, if at all, does a specific population or community play a role in forming and participating in this democratic school?

I suppose a democratic school will look different in different communities, but what I wonder about is having a school specifically designated for one group to meet its specific needs creating a population that is not truly representative of all the members of a community.  Do children gain something from diversity that they cannot get from a homogenous group?  The no excuses charter school I am in works predominantly with kids of color from lower income areas of the city and the mission of the school is to create a college going culture and get kids into college.  Is this the path to democracy, separate but equitable?

What do I mean by democracy?  Clearly I have more questions than answers.  What I would say to Asad is to not use the word integrate in his description of a perfect school, as many a culture has quietly disappeared with this word used with good intention.

Do others have a definition of democracy?

Best,
Sarah

• Cohen, D. (1990). A revolution in one classroom: The case of Mrs. Oublier. Chapter 28 (pp. 440-469) in The Jossey-Bass reader on school reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Stigler, J. & Hiebert, J. (1999). Teaching is a cultural activity. Chapter 5 (pp. 85-101) in The teaching gap: Best ideas from the world’s teachers for improving education in the classroom. New York: The Free Press.
• Delpit, L. (1988). The silenced dialogue: Power and pedagogy in educating other people’s children. Harvard Educational Review, 48(3), 280-298.
• Lemov, D. (2010). Planning that ensures academic achievement. Chapter 2 (pp. 57-70) in Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.