Hot Potato: Why Johnny Can't...: Self-Governance

<body text="#330000" bgcolor="#cccccc" link="#cc0000" vlink="#550000" alink="#ff0000" background="../backgrnd.gif"> <body text="#330000" bgcolor="#cccccc" link="#cc0000" vlink="#550000" alink="#ff0000" background="../backgrnd.gif"> <center><img src="title.gif" border="0" width="460" height="60" alt="Hot Potato: Food for Thought"></center> <center><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="460"><tr><td width=12></td><td align="left" valign="top"><b> <b>Why Johnny Can't...</b><br> <b>Self-Governance</b> </td><td align="right" valign="top"> 1997 September 19<br> Friday<br> </td><td width=10></td></tr></table><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=18 width="460" bgcolor="#eeeeee" ><tr><td> School kids should enjoy rapidly expanding rights of self-governance as they grow up. This applies not only to the school as a whole but to each individual child. <P> Given that kids in the US have reasonably good hopes of living in a democratic republic (even if it isn't functioning very well right now), it makes sense to teach them just how this mystery of cooperation and enlightened self-interest we call "government" can help most people to get what they want without hurting other people too much. <P> Student governments have almost always been a sham. No important issue is ever allowed to be decided by the students. Society needs to have the guts to let kids make some important decisions for themselves. This is a prickly issue but there are precedents for accomplishing it without too many wounds among the teachers and administrators. (See A.S. Neill, <i><a href="http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/summerhill/" target="_top">Summerhill</a></i> and <i>Freedom, Not License</i>.) <P> Be prepared for the mistakes. There is no learning without error. In school the scope for error is at least somewhat limited. </td></tr></table> <table border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="460"> <tr> <td width=12> </td> </td> <td width=60> <font size=-1> <a href="http://www.jhcrawford.com/mail.html">E-mail</a> </td> <td width=60 align="center"> <font size=-1> <a href="http://www.jhcrawford.com/index.html" target="_top">jhcrawford.com</a> </td> <td width=60 align="center"> <font size=-1> <a href="copy.htm">©</a><center></td> </td> <td width=60 align="center"> <font size=-1> <a href="index.html" target="_top">New</a><center></td> </td> <td width=60 align="right"> <font size=-1> <a href="../sitemap_x.htm" target="_top">Site Map</a> </td> <td width=12> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </body>