The Rouge Forum News Working Papers, Critical Analysis, and Grassroots News Issue #14 111 Rouge Forum News , Issue 14 Table of Contents From the editor p. 3 What is to be done? Staughton Lynd p. 8 The social context of schools Greg Queen p. 16 Education through the cracks: Engaging in democratic alternatives to modern schooling Cory Maley p. 26 Fostering racism: Failure to embrace diversity in schools and communities Travis Barrett p.30 Why have school? An exercise Rich Gibson p. 36 Popular sentiment, elite control, and unsatisfying compromises Paul Ramsey p. 45 Education Reform or Education Revolution? E. Wayne Ross p. 50 How do we learn and teach to get from where we are to where we need to be? Carol Williams p. 60 Empire in the academy? Adam Renner p. 71 Editorial: Paul Moore p. 78 Poetry Gina Stiens p. 79 Sonya Burton p. 80 Billy X. Curmano p. 83 222 Rouge Forum News , Issue 14 FROM THE EDITOR Well, despite the glowing prognostications from the financial sector and their allies, the corporate media, it is difficult to find evidence of sunny times in reality: unemployment tipping above 10% (and for workers of color the number is much worse), home foreclosures, factory shutdowns, a health care crisis, widening achievement gaps, and rising personal debt. As the special investigator general seeks more transparency from the banks regarding the use of the bail out money, we are simply assured by the bankers that they are, indeed, lending us (our) money—and, that it would be too complicated to illustrate it for us. Isn’t this how we got into the mess to begin with? On the war front, unfortunately, the imperialist invasion in Afghanistan is not going particularly well as deaths there begin to mount (July, 2009 was the deadliest month for US troops since the start of that war). Globally, as a result of neoliberal policies that make the world a marketplace for which capital and (some) products float ‘freely’ across borders while workers cannot, citizens continue to struggle to live with dignity in the wake of capitalism’s hyper-rationalized quest for profit (and more profit). [See “The cost conundrum” in the June 1, 2009 New Yorker , “Infinite debt” in the April, 2009 Harpers , “Labor’s last stand” in the July, 2009 Harpers , “US unemployment rate soars to a 26-year high,” “Black-White score gaps and Black rate of improvement on NAEP slows under NCLB,” “Financial Implosion and Stagnation,” and the “Rouge Forum updates” archived at www.therougeforum.blogspot.com ] In a recent address by David Harvey at the Marxism 2009 conference, he opens his talk by pointing out the irrationality of attempting to rationalize an irrational system. He illuminates the fact that we live at parallel moments of huge masses of capital, overwhelming masses of unemployed workers, and massive social need. How can these, he inquires, exist side by side by side? It is, simply, irrational. So, those who will try to rationalize it (the sunny-minded economists/capitalists) must be irrational. For those of us who will continue to reveal the ir rationality of the system, who will presage the possibility of an alternative social reality, and who will seek to exploit what Slavoj Zizek recently called in New Left Review the “antagonisms” within capitalism, we are compelled to seek solidarity. In the face of this worsening gap between rich and poor, the lengthening fence between the included and the excluded, and the perpetuity of imperialist wars, the Rouge Forum gathered in Ypsilanti, Michigan in May for our annual meeting, to reconnect, dialogue, and analyze the world around us (http://www.easternecho.com/content/rouge-forum-discusses-youth-education-emu-0). Thanks to Joe Bishop and his friends, colleagues, and students at Eastern Michigan, we spent the weekend with more than 150 participants. This issue is mainly dedicated to the excellent work shared at the conference. For those of you that could not be there, I hope this may catch you up on some of the very good work of your friends and colleagues. For those of you new to the Rouge Forum, I think you will find these essays and poetry illustrative of the thoughtful creativity and analysis with which I have become familiar in my six years in this organization. Just to share a thought or two about my take away from the conference, permit me to mention a recent text from one of our keynoters at the conference. As a result of Staughton Lynd’s address (what a privilege to have him there!), I purchased his book Wobblies and Zapatistas, co-written with Andrej Grubacic. This conversation between a Marxist and an Anarchist provided stimulating summer reading. The authors contend a more hopeful and just future society is dependent upon some twinning of Marxism and Anarchism. They claim we need Marxism to understand the structure of society and to make informed predictions in order to act with greater effect. And, they argue we need Anarchism to anticipate a new society –to live it on the ground here and now. In my reading, two concepts leapt from the pages as I consumed their work simultaneous to my annual summer work in the Global South. Lynd talks of “accompaniment” while Grubacic talks of “prefiguration.” Accompaniment, akin to solidarity, is a way of joining others in the work toward social 333 Rouge Forum News , Issue 14 justice. Accompaniment often involves the pairing of the relative privileged with the relative oppressed in a Freirean sort of “dialogical action.” In this action, the theoretical knowledge of the relative privileged (of the system and how to navigate it) is connected with the lived experience of the relative oppressed. Prefiguration is a way of being. Anarchist theory holds that social justice is brought to bear by living social justice. If we want democracy, we must live democratically. If we want peace, we must live peacefully. By living it, we create it. Clearly, in the most optimistic analysis of our international service work in the Global South, accompaniment and prefiguration measure quite prominently in the philosophy and action of the work. Though service-learning is fraught with problematics and, in its most cynical analysis, is exploitative, the intention in the more than ten years of this work has been to join the work of others, leveraging the privilege we have for the benefit of others toward some liberatory goal. Lynd says it this way: “The idea of working side by side with another [is] a common journey. The idea is that when a university-trained person undertakes to walk beside someone rich in experience but lacking formal skills, each contributes something vital to the process. Accompaniment presupposes, not uncritical deference, but equality.” It is at once mutual aid and revolutionary practice. While our work remains far from the liberatory goal and only touching the fringes of a transformative sort of practice, we consistently witness this struggle from as emic a perspective as possible and continually hone our analytical capabilities toward more critical action in the future. To this end, Lynd considers the length of this journey, “Sometimes all you can do for another person is stand in the rain with him/her . .I feel the need for a trade. I feel the natural way to relate to others is by unselfconsciously offering a service of unquestioned usefulness.” So, sometimes we wait for the sunshine, and act the best we can while it’s raining. Whether standing in the rain or working in the sun, we have also sought a path of prefiguration with our southern partners. Rather than trying to bring about some semblance of community, we try to live as community. Rather than trying to bring about some democratic future with our partners, we try to live democratically, trusting their voice and direction. Rather than seek some future realization of social justice, we try to live justly (as best we can, since we cross complicated borders of nations, race, class, etc.). Grubacic claims, “We need to proceed in a way that builds community. .Our conduct toward one another must be paradigmatic in engendering a sense of truly being brothers and sisters.” Further, he asserts, “Without organic preparation, no social and truly socialist revolution is possible . The chances of success depend on the extent to the pre-existing constructive capacity.” So, our work has been to build that constructive capacity by trying to live it. I would highly recommend Lynd and Grubacic’s conversation. It has bolstered the thinking around our work in the Global South and has reinvigorated some of my local work in Kentucky, particularly in schools and with a state-wide coalition which is working to eradicate predatory lending practices. Along with summer travels and reading, I have also taken up Marx’s Capital, Volume 1 , again, this time with the help of David Harvey’s lectures online. These can be found at: http://davidharvey.org . I would also highly recommend these lectures (and the aforementioned address at the Marxism 2009 conference, also found at his website). In this issue of the Rouge Forum News , we have another provocative lineup of essays to imbibe, digest, and dissect. Leading off from his keynote address at the Rouge Forum, Staughton Lynd beckons us by his recollection of the Mississippi Freedom Schools from the summer of 1964. Weaving a tight four-pronged essay that (1) asserts people learn by experience, (2) argues capitalist society allows few apertures through which to imagine a different world, (3) questions how we should introduce young people to new possibilities, and (4) claims that every school be made a freedom school, Lynd offers a crucial conversation starter for teacher educators, teachers, and all those who work on the better behalf of children regarding 444 Rouge Forum News , Issue 14 what must supplant the technocratic, hyper-standardized, utilitarian philosophy that pervades educational philosophy and practice today.