Freedom Schooling: Reconceptualizing Asian American Studies for Our Communities by Anna Chaewon 채원

"... new situations bring new contradictions, requiring new visions." - Grace Lee Boggs

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 18:43:55 UTC

Freedom Schools as described by Boggs & organized by AAU...

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 18:53:25 UTC

emphasize a curriculum that

connects students to the needs of their immediate neighborhood
move beyond the existing narrow definition of schools as places for training youth for jobs in the corporate economy
explicitly multicultural even though each school will focus on largely one ethnic group
overtly political --> based on an intensive critique of the current US educational crisis + promote ways to organize students, parents, other school staff, and communities to change this system

Freedom Schools enable students to practice democracy

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 18:54:10 UTC

Freedom Schools are community schools that reconceptualize education as an intergenerational process linked to solved community needs

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 18:54:51 UTC

(so it's not only for youth)

AsAm Studies & Its Roots in Freedom Schooling?

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 19:18:48 UTC

some history abt asam studies

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 20:54:31 UTC

AsAm Studies emerged from student + community activism that was connected to larger social movements seeking to transform all aspects of society --> that's why activists saw schooling as not just imparting info to students but as promoting critical awareness and encouraging political engagement (students + teachers learn best by doing, esp. by being involved with grassroots movements)
knowledge gained in classrooms must be used to confront power in society: all students + teachers have responsibility not to just study our communities but to change them!
students + teachers have responsibility to SHARE knowledge (w friends, parents, other in communities) & ensure that it is built into course objectives
~knowledge is TOO IMPORTANT TO STAY IN THE CLASSROOM~
knowledge + ideas can become material forces if grasped by large #s of people!
changing society means transforming oneself --> accepting the challenge to remold your own values + worldview
^this can only happen by participating with others in movements to serve the community!

what's happened to asam studies? --> it departed from its founding vision!

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 20:59:38 UTC

It adopted traditional academic criteria.
Today, links to the community tend to take place through things like:

offering student internships + field studies in social service agencies
training students in research methodology
encouraging professors + researchers to provide professional expertise in off-campus orgs
defining students + teachers as advocates who can change public policy through their research

so, basically, the presence of asam studies outside the academy has decreased so much so to the point that Omatsu describers it as "near absent outside of higher education" (500).

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 21:03:40 UTC

in the era of it's founding, activists took asam studies outside the college classroom and into high schools, adult schools, workplaces, housing projects, and community centers. today, it is limited to higher education, esp. in elite institutions >:O

freedom schooling means reclaiming the radical legacy of asam studies

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 21:13:48 UTC

early activists defined the first classes in asam studies as places for learning, organization, and collective empowerment

wait, how did early activists and organizers bring asam studies to the community?

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 21:32:06 UTC

early "classes" in asam studies were conducted in community centers, homes, and at teach-ins at rallies + demonstrations
distinction between students and teachers was not easily defined, so much so that participants easily switched roles
"Asian American Community College" = organized and coordinated by students associated with the UCLA asam studies center in early 1970s
- from Gidra:
  - "Over the past several months concerned community members have developed a college to serve our people. It is being called the Asian American Community College. It arose from the assumption that education is not restricted to the ivory tower classroom, but is an on-going process. The college belongs to the community. It can be molded to fit the needs of the community."
- ^ example of project created by students w limited resources
- today, we have access to many more resources, so what types of projects can students organize?

how to deal with asam studies now

cjeong11_1 — 2022-03-29 21:57:41 UTC

community education requires good teaching practices

cjeong11_1 — 2022-04-03 14:19:01 UTC

Helping Health Workers Learn: A Book of Methods, Aids, and Ideas for Instructors at the Village Level by David Werner and Bill Bower <-- Influenced by Freire, their work advocates a teaching approach that "draws ideas out of people" rather than only "putting ideas into peoples' heads"

asam studies as arising from the necessity to create "alternative framework" (seven building blocks)

cjeong11_1 — 2022-04-03 14:48:28 UTC

learning about history and understanding how history relates to the present
discovering how each person's life intersects with history and explaining why this discovery is both "terrible" and "magnificent"
identifying key characteristics of a community we are studying
uncovering stereotypes, esp the political use of stereotypes
analyzing the "mainstream" framework surrounding each issue
creating alternative frameworks, esp those that uncover the influence of larger social, political, and economic factors
identifying social and political movements that mobilize people to fight for justice

final paper?

cjeong11_1 — 2022-04-03 14:51:28 UTC

Omatsu requires each student to carry out "special responsibility" by creating and implementing an educational strategy to share what they have learned in their class with others-- whether in their own K-12 classrooms or with friends and family. Omatsu asks each student to focus on building better race relations in LA and promoting a greater understanding of the alternative framework underlying asam studies

three critical questions for activists in asam studies today

cjeong11_1 — 2022-04-03 14:57:49 UTC

how are we addressing the question of "the end of the world as we know it?"
how are we developing within our communities new survival skills needed for this transition period?
what alternatives are we putting forward to replace the disintegrating institutions of the current world system?

web of connectedness, critical mass v critical connections

cjeong11_1 — 2022-04-03 15:01:38 UTC

(Margaret Wheatley, Leadership and the New Science)

cjeong11_1 — 2022-04-03 15:14:27 UTC

makes me think of:

cjeong11_1 — 2022-04-03 20:15:48 UTC

how do we know the things we know?