{"id":6,"date":"2020-02-27T20:42:11","date_gmt":"2020-02-27T20:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020\/?page_id=6"},"modified":"2020-05-15T19:13:41","modified_gmt":"2020-05-15T23:13:41","slug":"organizing-and-education","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020-efernand\/organizing-and-education\/","title":{"rendered":"The Principles of Organizing and Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0<\/span>ability<\/span>\u00a0to organize as a community and establish strategies to fight for the\u00a0<\/span>implementation<\/span>\u00a0of these courses is vital to the movements\u2019\u00a0<\/span>progression<\/span>. Thankfully<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>communities<\/span>\u00a0can and should turn to\u00a0<\/span>philosophers<\/span>\/organizers for\u00a0<\/span>guidance<\/span>\u00a0and to\u00a0<\/span>inform<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>themselves<\/span>\u00a0about the\u00a0<\/span>basics<\/span>\u00a0of community organizing.\u00a0<\/span>From this course, I have broken down\u00a0<\/span>the<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>principals<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>organizing<\/span>\u00a0into three main points<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Paulo Freire Freedom School<\/p><\/div>\n

The first point is that organizers should serve as facilitators<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0to unlock a community\u2019s collective\u00a0knowledge<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0E<\/span>ducators<\/span>\u00a0and organizers<\/span>\u00a0Myles Horton and Paulo Freire\u00a0<\/span>established the\u00a0<\/span>Highlander<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Institute<\/span>, a learning\u00a0<\/span>institute<\/span>\u00a0in which\u00a0<\/span>individuals<\/span>\u00a0learned about the basics of organizing through community<\/span>–<\/span>led discussion and debate. These future organizers were taught that\u00a0<\/span>individuals<\/span>\u00a0hold\u00a0<\/span>a\u00a0<\/span>substantial<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>amount<\/span>\u00a0of\u00a0<\/span>knowledge<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>about the issues they face\u00a0<\/span>and\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>they should be helped to unlock\u00a0<\/span>it\u00a0<\/span>by\u00a0<\/span>creating<\/span>\u00a0spaces where they can share their experiences and connect with others<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(Horton and Freire, 2014, p.146)<\/span>. Realizing others in the\u00a0<\/span>community<\/span>\u00a0have similar experiences, it will form a bond that\u00a0<\/span>validates the<\/span>\u00a0individual\u2019s<\/span> experiences and create a<\/span>n\u00a0<\/span>empowering<\/span>\u00a0sense of unity. This\u00a0<\/span>sense of power<\/span>\u00a0is necessary to push the community to take the risks of the\u00a0<\/span>incentives<\/span>\u00a0that\u00a0<\/span>will<\/span>\u00a0help them make progress on the issues their<\/span>\u00a0community faces<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

AP Images<\/p><\/div>\n

Secondly, organizers must help\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>communities\u00a0identify and establish strategies to\u00a0mobilize for\u00a0the causes they care about<\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0American activist Saul D. Alinsky<\/span>\u00a0argues that\u00a0<\/span>the unlocking of collective knowledge is useless if\u00a0<\/span>communities<\/span>\u00a0have no way of doing anything about this knowledge and to improve the\u00a0<\/span>situations<\/span>\u00a0they find themselves in<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>T<\/span>hey will have \u201c<\/span>no course of action except to blow their tops\u201d (Alinsky, 1971, p. 118).\u00a0<\/span>Understandably, this would be\u00a0<\/span>unproductive<\/span>\u00a0for the community. If there is to be social change, there must be ways to<\/span>\u00a0get<\/span>\u00a0there\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>productive expression of passion. Otherwise, the community will become disillusioned<\/span>\u00a0due to lack of progress<\/span>\u00a0and there will be no more\u00a0<\/span>mobilizing<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"

Biography.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Most\u00a0<\/span>importantly<\/span>, organizers must prepare communities to organize themselves<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span>Organizer Ella Baker strongly believed in aiding communities in becoming aware of their power through the idea of participatory democracy so that they will eventually be independ<\/span>ent<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Participatory<\/span>\u00a0democracy\u00a0<\/span>establishes that communities should be politically active as they have the power to make change. (Mueller, 2004, pp. 82-83).\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Organizers can help c<\/span>ommunities<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>organize\u00a0<\/span>into action<\/span>\u00a0through the creation of ongoing groups to solve local issues and aiding individuals in becoming more active within organizations who were fighting for the same goals.\u00a0<\/span>Th<\/span>rough this process, the<\/span>\u00a0community recognize<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0the power they have on their\u00a0<\/span>own and their ability to continue the work themselves, allowing the organizer to step down without ending the political engagement and progression of that community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, these strategies can prepare\u00a0<\/span>communities<\/span>\u00a0to fight for ethnic studies courses and continue to push for their success after they are\u00a0<\/span>established<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0ability\u00a0to organize as a community and establish strategies to fight for the\u00a0implementation\u00a0of these courses is vital to the movements\u2019\u00a0progression. Thankfully,\u00a0communities\u00a0can and should turn to\u00a0philosophers\/organizers for\u00a0guidance\u00a0and to\u00a0inform\u00a0themselves\u00a0about the\u00a0basics\u00a0of community organizing.\u00a0From this course, I have broken down\u00a0the\u00a0principals\u00a0of\u00a0organizing\u00a0into three main points.\u00a0 The first point is that organizers should serve as facilitators\u00a0to unlock a community\u2019s collective\u00a0knowledge.\u00a0Educators\u00a0and organizers\u00a0Myles Horton and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020-efernand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020-efernand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020-efernand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020-efernand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020-efernand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020-efernand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/education-1015-spring-2020-efernand\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}