Claiming our democratic rights

Abstract

Using autobiographical research this paper reminds us that schooling and education are not the same things and that mainstream schooling is an undemocratic institution that dumbs us down. The paper also makes the point that we need to slow down and rethink why it is that we are pressuring and hurrying our children to do things in school and in life earlier and earlier, and we need to understand the damage that this is doing to them. Ultimately, the paper insists that we need to reclaim our democratic rights as children, parents, teachers, principals and citizens.