SCHOOLING FOR HUMANITY

When Big Brother isn't Watching

by David O. Solmitz

 

From the back cover:

 

Schooling for Humanity: When Big Brother Isn't Watching documents David O. Solmitz's thirty-year struggle as a controversial, anti-establishment teacher in a small, rural, central Maine high school. Using journal entries, accompanied by administrative reprimands, intertwined with historical documentation of the intensifying conflict between democratic pedagogy and capitalist domination in our public schools, the author gives a narrative account of his efforts to create a democratic classroom in a traditional secondary school setting. By incorporating theories of progressive educators into his practice, Solmitz demonstrates the possibility of achieving the ideals of democratic schooling in spite of an increasingly bureaucratic, rigid and authoritarian system.

 

David O. Solmitz received his M.A. in education from Goddard College. He began his teaching career at the Ecole d'Humanité in Switzerland, the continental equivalent (sic!) of A.S. Neill's "Summerhill School." For thirty years he taught social studies at Madison High School in Madison, Maine, incorporating social activism as well as the fine and performing arts into his democratically oriented classroom. He has published numerous commentaries on education in Maine newspapers.

 

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