Looking for Democracy in Arkansas?
by
John
A. Beineke
September
2001
The progressive educators of the last century always made a strong connection between democracy and education. By this they were not solely referring to the process of majority rule and other political elements often thought of when democracy is mentioned. They saw democracy as a way of life ¾ deeply embedding the rights of the individual such as free speech where the free marketplace of ideas operate. Several episodes since moving to Arkansas have troubled me when I think about democracy and how important it is in the functioning of our schools. Lest these ideas be thought regional, since I am native Hoosier, I freely disclose that I started my public schooling in Florida and have lived in both Georgia and Oklahoma, in addition to Arkansas.
The episodes I will note emerge from educational settings at the building, district, and state levels. And they all point to a lack of understanding as to how democracy should function to bring about positive change for our students. I was recently told about a building where teachers were hesitant to ask questions about curricular and equity issues. The reason? Raising the ire of the principal. One teacher, who attempted to ask such questions, ended up being shunned for weeks by the principal. From what I have heard, other teachers have quit trying or say “Well, she’s the principal” resigning themselves professionally to the status quo. It makes one ask ¾ where is democracy?
Another example comes from a nearby school district where parents were advocating the hiring of an additional teacher to support growing enrollments in a special program. Parent leaders asked other parents, who also believed in the idea, to write letters to the school board. The superintendent, I was told, directed the district’s building principals see what could be done to stop this grassroots movement. Since seventh grade when Miss Nussbaum taught me that the United States was the “bulwark of democracy” I have always thought that citizens could directly petition those officials they had elected. We would be appalled if our employer told us we could not write to our representatives in Congress or the state legislature. But when it happens in the school setting we don’t seem to mind. Where is democracy?
Still another example from my recent Arkansas experience concerned an administrator at a regional education services center. This educator would not sponsor a professional development program that would train teachers to mentor beginning teachers. The reason? Several superintendents wished to control which teachers did the mentoring. The democratic issue being abridged here was undue influence being exercised by a minority (administrators) over a majority (teachers). Sadly the session was canceled and a local university sponsored the training for the teachers. Where is democracy?
Public schools are not the only place these lapses in democracy occur. It seems that these episodes also happen in Arkansas higher education. A vice president for academic affairs at a state university told a department chair, I knew, that she could not talk to state higher education officials unless she had permission from him. When the chair asked if the “gag order” included the governor, the answer was “Yes, the gag order includes the governor.” Where is democracy?
I have personally confronted affronts to democracy during my two years in Arkansas. At the indirect request of two state legislators, I have been asked on one occasion to waive an institutional policy because a constituent did not like a certain rule and another time I was asked to hire an instructor who was not qualified. (One of these episodes occurred on my first day as dean.) While my university superiors supported me on both decisions ¾ and the “public servants” requesting the favors chose not to pursue the issue further ¾ the fact that they occurred is troubling. A tenet of democracy is that special privilege should not override the interests of the people. Where is democracy?
Two recent national studies support my anecdotal observations on the state level. Public Agenda found that seventy percent of teachers surveyed said that they “are often left out of the loop in their district’s decision-making process.” When district leaders do communicate with teachers, these teachers believed it was to help them understand and support what the district leadership wanted to accomplish.” In another report the Institute for Educational Leadership found that PK-12 schools are “against innovation, much less relatively free expression or professional ‘leadership’ by anyone other than statutory supervisors.” For some reason all the writing and talk about “site-based management” has failed to take root ¾ at least for teachers.
Teacher educators include courses within undergraduate and graduate programs in the social foundations of education because we believe, as the progressives of yesteryear did, that democracy is important. And I am sure most of the public school leaders I have referred to above sat through such classes. It does take courage to stand up to special interests. (I have always admired Harry Truman for his courage in this area.) But school leaders need to practice democracy as models themselves. It has been said that the way to protect free speech is to have more free speech. Accordingly, the way to have more democracy in schools is to practice more democracy in the schools.