Online Discussion on the Military Begins Tuesday
Jonathan Osler
starts tomorrow (Tuesday, February 19)
www.edliberation.org/talkin-bout
a public, online discussion focused on Camouflaged, a new collection of teaching resources on the military from the New York Collective of Radical Educators
presented by the Education for Liberation Network
talkin' bout is an online discussion series that brings together educators, activists and youth to participate in a public conversation on the network website about timely and important topics in liberatory education. From Tuesday, February 19 to Thursday, February 21 a panel will answer questions posted to an online discussion board about teaching about the military and counter recruitment. The conversation will take place on the website of the Education for Liberation Network. To post comments and questions, you must register to use this site.
This discussion is linked to the upcoming publication of Camouflaged: Investigating how the U.S. military affects you and your community, a curriculum collection developed by the New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE). This resource guide features lesson plans created by teachers about the economic, social and psychological impact of the military on our society as well as counter recruitment strategies.
Bill Bigelow, Editor of Rethinking Schools, says in his foreword to the book:
This is a collaborative effort that seeks to provide students the kind of challenging curriculum that not only develops thoughtful citizens, but saves lives. Literally.
Now Available: Free excerpts from Camouflaged downloadable from the network website. You can also purchase the book on NYCoRE's website.
Panelists for talkin 'bout…the military in our communities are:
- Pablo Paredes, a naval petty officer who was court martialed after refusing to deploy to Iraq and applying for conscientious objector status.
- Seth Rader, a NYCoRE member and facilitator of the NYCoRE Counter Recruitment Project. He is currently a high school teacher at James Baldwin High School in NYC.
- Edwin Mayorga, a NYCoRE member and facilitator of the NYCoRE Counter Recruitment Project. He is currently a doctoral student in urban education at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a former elementary school teacher in NYC public schools.
- Bill Lamme, who teaches US History at Kelly High School, Chicago's second largest school, which is heavily recruited by all branches of the service. Bill advises the student club, Students for Social Justice, and has worked with a group of counter recruitment activists to influence the Chicago Board of Education's new recruiter policy.
The network invites all those interested in this urgent issue to post their own questions and comments for the panelists and for each other. Anyone can read the discussion without registering. To post, first you must register to use the site. We hope this will be an enlightening and lively digital conversation.
The Education for Liberation Network is a national coalition of teachers, community activists, youth, researchers and parents who believe a good education should teach people—particularly low-income youth and youth of color—to understand and challenge the injustices their communities face. Click here to join the network listserv. For more information contact Tara Mack, Director, Education for Liberation Network on ta...@edliberation.org.
Read about the Education for Liberation Network in The Nation magazine: (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080225/doster).