Another Way is Possible

Another Way is Possible – Becoming a Democratic Teacher in a State School

by Derry Hannam

In short, this is a book that every democratically minded educator and parent needs to read. Faculties of education everywhere need to graduate teachers who are well-versed in its contents. Parents need to assert that they want their children to have democratic teachers.

I’m posting this item on October 12^th, 2020, just three weeks and a day before the United States presidential elections. Throughout the world our democratic institutions are under attack, and there is great concern that what has been regarded as one of the world’s strongest democracies is on the brink of tyranny. It is a time for advocates of human rights and social justice to act with vigor, and Derry Hannam’s book, Another Way is Possible – Becoming a Democratic Teacher in a State School, points to where they need to focus much of their energy.

Derry describes how growing up in Britain made him an advocate for social justice. Born on the wrong side of the tracks, he experienced the discrimination that is rampant in even those countries that claim to be democracies. The cost of the houses in people’s neighbourhoods are too strong a predictor of what their station will be in life, and this registered with Derry. He has thought hard about what equality really means and his book gives us a vision of how it is that teachers can be equals with their students without having their classrooms descend into chaos.

On the website for the documentary film Schooling the World, Carol Black asks: “If you want to change a culture in a single generation, how would you do it?” The answer she gives is, “You would change the way it educates its children.” Abraham Lincoln appears to have held a similar view having said: “The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Add to this what Tapscott and Caston write in their book Paradigm Shift and you have in essence the message conveyed by Another Way is Possible. They said:

If you want control, you design organizations for accountability.
If you want to accomplish, you design for commitment.

It is a statement about autocratic versus democratic governance. Together, these quotes tell us that we err by subjecting students to competitive, authoritarian schools and standardized testing. Derry’s concern for students extends beyond their education. He worries about their future. He projects that the sustainability of human life on earth will in large part be determined by a no nonsense correcting of our treatment of children and youth.

Derry is a change agent. His book helps him to bring attention to his 20% proposal and the Unschooling School initiative. You can get a sense of who Derry is and his dedication to democratic principles from a short video titled: Responsible Subversives.