Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming Our Democracy

Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming our Democracy is a must read for public school trustees and for anyone interested in the ideas of citizenship, community, democracy, and/or public school education. Mathews writes from a solid and diverse base of intellect, experience, careful and extensive research, appreciative criticism, and imaginative reflection. The book has three parts, representing "the question", "the problem within the question", and "the line of opportunity". The writing is supported by frequent reference to good research, and the research is more often action- based and qualitative, rather than quantitative. Mathews writes carefully and eloquently: here we have someone who cares deeply about the issues, and their implications for public education and for democracy. In addition, his outlook is hopeful and determined, not despairing. Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming our Democracy offers insight into citizenship, the public, the role of representative government in the local community, the importance of convening the public and re-establishing its responsibility for self-government, and the potential power of the democracy that could result. Readers will finish the book with new insights and some questions answered. More significantly, the book raises new questions and leaves the reader with the sense that the questions are vital -- well worth wrestling with. As an aside, the Public School Boards' Association of Alberta has used Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming our Democracy as a primary textbook for trustee development programs, since it was first published in 2006. In the context of concerted efforts to encourage trustee engagement with the public -- convening the public, self-government, enlarging the commons -- this book has been read, digested, and appreciated by many trustees, including many who say that it has changed their outlook on important issues.