"We've been doing this here since 1968, so we have been identified as an example of a free, democratic school, and many professors want to expose their students to our philosophy"
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Longevity is doing the heavy lifting here. By leading with “since 1968,” Daniel Greenberg isn’t just timestamping an institution; he’s borrowing the moral authority of an era when “free” and “democratic” were fighting words on campuses and in school board meetings. The date functions like a credential: we were radical before it was a branding exercise, and we’re still standing. That implied survival story matters more than any abstract claim about pedagogy.
The phrasing “identified as an example” is strategically passive. Greenberg sidesteps self-congratulation while still cashing the check of outside validation. It suggests legitimacy conferred by reputation, not marketing. At the same time, “example” quietly positions the school as a model organism in the ecosystem of education reform: something observers can study, replicate, or use to challenge their own assumptions.
Then comes the real tell: “many professors want to expose their students.” “Expose” carries a double edge. On the surface it’s benign, even generous - a field trip for future teachers. Underneath, it hints at how marginal democratic schooling still is. You don’t “expose” students to the standard; you expose them to the anomaly, the controversial case study, the thing that tests the boundaries of what counts as “real school.”
The subtext is a subtle critique of mainstream teacher education. Professors, Greenberg implies, know their programs can become doctrinaire, so they outsource imagination to a living counterexample. His “philosophy” isn’t presented as a curriculum tweak; it’s an alternative civic arrangement, one that keeps attracting visitors precisely because most schools still aren’t built to trust students that much.
The phrasing “identified as an example” is strategically passive. Greenberg sidesteps self-congratulation while still cashing the check of outside validation. It suggests legitimacy conferred by reputation, not marketing. At the same time, “example” quietly positions the school as a model organism in the ecosystem of education reform: something observers can study, replicate, or use to challenge their own assumptions.
Then comes the real tell: “many professors want to expose their students.” “Expose” carries a double edge. On the surface it’s benign, even generous - a field trip for future teachers. Underneath, it hints at how marginal democratic schooling still is. You don’t “expose” students to the standard; you expose them to the anomaly, the controversial case study, the thing that tests the boundaries of what counts as “real school.”
The subtext is a subtle critique of mainstream teacher education. Professors, Greenberg implies, know their programs can become doctrinaire, so they outsource imagination to a living counterexample. His “philosophy” isn’t presented as a curriculum tweak; it’s an alternative civic arrangement, one that keeps attracting visitors precisely because most schools still aren’t built to trust students that much.
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| Topic | Teaching |
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