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132: From Colonial to Solarpunk Education w/ Andrewism
20 Plays2 years ago
In the late 2000s, the concept of “solarpunk” emerged. In 2022, YouTube channel Our Changing Climate with, my guest today, Andrewism published a video titled “How We Can Build a Solarpunk Future Right Now”, in which they make that the case that "Ultimately Solarpunk envisions a world that might be slower, but more intentional. One that ties humanity closely to the natural world.” Or as Andrewism put in a reply to the video: "A future with a human face and dirt behind its ears."
But if solarpunk is the future with humanity put back in, achieving it means taking control of that future from economic, social, & political forces that seem to be on autopilot to self-destruction, utterly divorced from human desires & human intervention. One path we've imagined already, and its grimy survivalist individualism was the defining feature of Reagan-era science fiction classics. However, in its radical reimagination of economic & social structures, solarpunk resists the nihilism & doomerism of the grim dehumanized technological dystopias that dominate the worlds of, say, Blade Runner, Robocop, & William Gibson's Neuromancer.
Do we have the willingness to challenge the predominant social, economic, & political structures & systems that need to be challenged? To change the very nature of humanity's relationship to the planet? What role does education play in all of this?
Guests
Andrew goes by Andrewism on his YouTube channel. His 66 videos, covering topics from education, liberation, and history, to family, parenting, and of course, solarpunk - have nearly 3 million combined views. Young people from around the world are watching & learning from him and participating in the community he has cultivated around his channel.
Resources
Recommended
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Transcript
Introduction to Conference & Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Conference to Restore Humanity 2023 is an invitation for K-12 and college educators to break the doom loop and build a platform for hopeful, positive action.
00:00:11
Speaker
Our conference is designed around the accessibility, sustainability, and affordability of virtual learning, while engaging participants in a classroom environment that models the same progressive pedagogy we value with students.
00:00:24
Speaker
Instead of long Zoom presentations with a brief Q&A, keynotes are flipped and attendees will have the opportunity for extended conversation with our speakers.
00:00:34
Speaker
Antonia Darter, with 40 years of insight as a scholar, artist, activist, and author of numerous works, including Culture and Power in the Classroom.
00:00:43
Speaker
Cornelius Minor, community-driven Brooklyn educator, co-founder of The Minor Collective, and author of We Got This.
00:00:51
Speaker
Jose Luis Vilson, New York City educator, co-founder, and executive director of EduColor, and author of This Is Not a Test.
00:00:59
Speaker
and Iowa WTF, a coalition of young people fighting discriminatory legislation through advocacy, activism, and civic engagement.
00:01:08
Speaker
And instead of back-to-back online workshops, we are offering asynchronous learning tracks where you can engage with the content and the community at any time on topics like environmental education for social impact, applying game design to education, and anti-racist universal design for learning.
00:01:26
Speaker
This year, we're also featuring daily events from organizations, educators, and activists to build community and sustain practice.
00:01:34
Speaker
The Conference to Restore Humanity runs July 24th through the 27th.
00:01:39
Speaker
And as of recording, early bird tickets are still available.
00:01:42
Speaker
See our website, humanrestorationproject.org, for more information.
00:01:47
Speaker
And let's restore humanity together.
Empowering Students for Change
00:01:55
Speaker
I'll start with addressing students themselves.
00:01:57
Speaker
I believe it starts with recognizing something that this entire system has been structured to prevent you from recognizing, which is that you do have power.
00:02:09
Speaker
As an isolated individual, your power may be minimal, but you still have power as an individual.
00:02:14
Speaker
The way the real power lies is as a collective and as a coming together of forces.
00:02:22
Speaker
We tend to think of that in the realm of labor unions, right?
00:02:26
Speaker
Where, you know, one worker versus multiple workers.
00:02:30
Speaker
And the reason there is so much opposition to unionizing is because of just how powerful unionizing as a force is.
00:02:37
Speaker
The same applies to students, I believe.
00:02:43
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 132 of the podcast at the Human Restoration Project.
00:02:48
Speaker
My name is Nick Covington.
00:02:49
Speaker
This episode is brought to you by our supporters, three of whom are Trevor Alio, Burton Hobley, and Rachel Lawrence.
00:02:56
Speaker
Thank you so much for your ongoing support.
Virtual Conference Details
00:02:58
Speaker
The trailer you heard in the intro is for our conference to restore humanity, a fully virtual conference that runs July 24th through 27th.
00:03:07
Speaker
We've got a stellar lineup, so we hope you'll join us.
00:03:10
Speaker
Tickets and info can be found at humanrestorationproject.org slash conference.
Speculative Fiction & Social Concerns
00:03:20
Speaker
As with all art, speculative fiction tends to reflect the sentiments of the era.
00:03:25
Speaker
During the Great Depression, for example, Superman first appeared taking down evil businessmen and bankers, the villains of the day.
00:03:32
Speaker
The golden age of comic books was spawned in part by the anxieties of the Second World War.
00:03:37
Speaker
And speculative fiction continued to mirror our social anxieties throughout the 20th century.
00:03:43
Speaker
Atomic warfare in the 1950s, the techno-laden data mines in the 1980s, dystopian hyper-capitalism in the 90s, and in recent decades, environmental catastrophe.
00:03:55
Speaker
And in the late 2000s, the concept of solar punk emerged.
00:03:59
Speaker
In 2022, YouTube channel Our Changing Climate with my guest today, Andrewism, published a video titled How We Can Build a Solar Punk Future Right Now, in which they make the case that, ultimately, solar punk envisions a world that might be slower but more intentional, one that ties humanity closely to the natural world.
00:04:21
Speaker
Or, as Andrewism put it in a reply to the video,
00:04:24
Speaker
A future with the human face and dirt behind its ears.
Andrewism & Solar Punk Exploration
00:04:29
Speaker
But if solar punk is the future with humanity put back in, achieving it means taking control of that future from economic, social, and political forces that seem to be on autopilot to self-destruction, utterly divorced from human desires and human intervention.
00:04:45
Speaker
One path we've imagined already, and its grimy survivalist individualism, was the defining feature of Reagan-era science fiction classics.
00:04:54
Speaker
However, in its radical reimagination of economic and social structures, solar punk resists the nihilism and doomerism of the grim, dehumanized technological dystopias that dominated the worlds of, say, Blade Runner, Robocop, and William Gibson's Neuromancer.
00:05:12
Speaker
So do we have the willingness to challenge the predominant social, economic, and political structures and systems that need to be challenged?
00:05:20
Speaker
To change the very nature of humanity's relationship to the planet?
00:05:24
Speaker
What role does education play in all this?
Education System in Trinidad and Tobago
00:05:27
Speaker
My guest today goes by Andrewism on his YouTube channel.
00:05:31
Speaker
His 66 videos covering topics from education, liberation, and history to family, parenting, and of course, solar punk have nearly 3 million combined views.
00:05:42
Speaker
Young people from around the world are watching and learning from him and participating in the community he's cultivated around his channel.
00:05:49
Speaker
And I hope we can learn from him as well.
00:05:51
Speaker
Andrew, thanks so much for joining me today.
00:05:54
Speaker
Thanks for having me, Nick.
00:05:55
Speaker
Good to be here.
00:05:56
Speaker
So Andrew, you have over 100,000 subscribers on YouTube, which for our listeners is more than 99% of channels.
00:06:05
Speaker
Yet I'm willing to bet that many in our audience of educators don't know about you, your work, or the ideas that drive your channel.
00:06:13
Speaker
Could you just introduce yourself, your background, and how you arrived at the focus for your channel?
00:06:18
Speaker
And I would be curious to know, too, about any educational experiences, either inside or outside of school, that really have shaped who you are to this day.
00:06:28
Speaker
My name is Andrew of the YouTube channel, Andrewism.
00:06:31
Speaker
And I began the channel back in 2020, mid-2020, after spending some time trying to develop a blog.
00:06:42
Speaker
I realized that blogging was sort of becoming a dying medium and I felt like a particular topic that I was hoping to explore would be better suited to the video format.
00:06:54
Speaker
And interestingly enough, very topically, that topic was on the education system.
00:07:00
Speaker
My channel really began with a breakdown of the flaws in our modern education system.
00:07:08
Speaker
I think part of the reason that I'm so passionate about that topic and end up exploring others along the way is because of my background.
00:07:17
Speaker
I did originally attend school up until standard one, which would be, I would have left standard one at the age of seven, uh, to begin homeschooling.
00:07:29
Speaker
And I spent the rest of my adolescent academic journey homeschooling.
00:07:37
Speaker
Um, originally I was a child, so it wasn't by choice, but later on I had the opportunity to return to, um,
00:07:45
Speaker
state schooling and I chose to continue on the homeschooling path because although I don't believe that it is the best decision for everybody, it was the best decision for me as someone who has always considered himself to be on a particular path.
00:08:02
Speaker
I felt as though my homeschooling experience was enabling me to pursue that path unencumbered by rather the constraints and time wastes that traditional schooling imposes.
00:08:16
Speaker
The ability to pursue my passions, to hone, refine my skills really helped me.
00:08:23
Speaker
The freedom, the amount of free time and stuff that I enjoyed
00:08:29
Speaker
I'd always been a prolific writer, even from a very young age.
00:08:32
Speaker
I was writing stories and books and that kind of thing.
00:08:36
Speaker
Well, trying to start writing books and never quite finishing them.
00:08:40
Speaker
But the freedom that homeschooling allowed for me enabled me to refine that skill and led me to eventually pursuing that blog, which eventually led me to creating the channel that I have today.
00:08:56
Speaker
And I'm approaching three years of working on the channel.
00:09:01
Speaker
Recently accomplished 100,000 subscribers.
00:09:06
Speaker
And since the very beginning of the channel's inception, the description for on the about section of my channel has been
00:09:14
Speaker
My name is Andrew Sage, I'm trying to learn and explore as much as possible.
00:09:18
Speaker
And that I think is really what drives the
Challenges & Critique of Exam-Centric System
00:09:21
Speaker
wide variety of subjects that I explore in my work.
00:09:24
Speaker
Desire, the flame, the passion for learning that I've had as a child.
00:09:32
Speaker
that pure curiosity, that voracious exploration of books, none of that was tampered or dampered by traditional schooling.
00:09:44
Speaker
And so I believe I was able to flourish in a way that I may not have been able to if I had gone through that experience.
00:09:54
Speaker
And so to this day, I still have that fire to try and learn and explore as much as possible.
00:10:01
Speaker
I think that is what makes me who I am.
00:10:05
Speaker
And I think it's also what has led to my channel's existence today and also my current political philosophy and outlook.
00:10:16
Speaker
Do I understand correct that you're in Trinidad and Tobago currently?
00:10:20
Speaker
Yes, born, raised, still live there.
00:10:23
Speaker
Okay.
00:10:23
Speaker
One thing that I'm really curious about then is what did the school system in Trinidad and Tobago growing up look like?
00:10:31
Speaker
Or how, from your perspective as a student growing up in it, what practices did you see or what...
00:10:38
Speaker
What flaws or would you describe it as more of an Americanized system?
00:10:42
Speaker
Is it unique in the Caribbean education system?
00:10:46
Speaker
Could you elaborate on that a little bit?
00:10:48
Speaker
Sure.
00:10:49
Speaker
So the education system in Trontobago is...
00:10:53
Speaker
More similar to the British model as we only recently gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1962.
00:11:00
Speaker
So similarly to Britain, we have primary school, secondary school, and then you'd have tertiary education.
00:11:10
Speaker
Secondary school being forms one, two, three, four and five.
00:11:13
Speaker
And then the optional lower and upper six, which is roughly equivalent to an associate's degree from what I understand.
00:11:22
Speaker
and primary school being standards one to five.
00:11:27
Speaker
We also involve the secondary entrance assessment, which is an examination that students at the end of their primary school career must write in order to be placed into a secondary school.
00:11:43
Speaker
We don't have like
00:11:45
Speaker
you know, school zoning based on where you live, it's dependent upon the scores that you receive on that secondary entrance assessment or SEA that would determine where, which school you end up.
00:11:57
Speaker
And of course, with such a system, it naturally leads to various stratifications in ability and resources available and that kind of thing.
00:12:08
Speaker
So there's a sort of a hierarchy of types of schools from the upper echelon of the prestige schools
00:12:15
Speaker
with names like Queen's Royal College and St.
00:12:18
Speaker
Joseph's Convent and so on and so forth.
00:12:22
Speaker
And these being an all boys school and an all girls school.
00:12:26
Speaker
The mixed gendered schools,
Call for Education Reform
00:12:28
Speaker
the co-ed schools tend to be considered lower class or lower quality.
00:12:34
Speaker
And so it creates this hierarchy.
00:12:35
Speaker
It reinforces existing hierarchies.
00:12:39
Speaker
Of course, with these sorts of prestige schools, as they're called, there is a sense of cliquishness within them, sort of an old boys network or old girls network that develops within them that sort of reinforces all of the inequalities, even past education.
00:12:57
Speaker
Not to mention, of course, having such a school on your resume really makes a difference.
00:13:02
Speaker
Having the school ring on your hand in a job interview really makes a difference.
00:13:07
Speaker
So after you write for your school, and by the way, the SEA exam is a serious deal.
00:13:13
Speaker
Up until recently, the results for all the children in the country were actually published in the newspaper.
00:13:20
Speaker
So they would have Andrew, here's what Andrew got on his exam scores here?
00:13:26
Speaker
Well, they wouldn't give the exam score, but they would give which school you pass for.
00:13:30
Speaker
Oh, okay, I got you.
00:13:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:13:32
Speaker
Oh, my goodness.
00:13:33
Speaker
And so there is a lot, as you can imagine, a lot of pressure placed on children to do well as early as standard three, which would be...
00:13:43
Speaker
I think around like eight, seven to eight or eight to nine years old, you're expected to begin preparation.
00:13:50
Speaker
And from standard three to standard five, you're sort of pursuing that in their childhood.
00:13:55
Speaker
And not to mention additional lessons and practice tests.
00:13:59
Speaker
And so it's this constant, it's a stripping of the children's childhood in preparation for this exam.
00:14:05
Speaker
And then you get into secondary school and secondary school is forms one, two, and three.
00:14:09
Speaker
In form three, they have another exam called the NCSE.
00:14:13
Speaker
It's not as relevant, however, as the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate or CSEC, which is across the Caribbean, an exam that you write to basically, it's like equivalent of a high school diploma, I guess, to signify that you graduated secondary school with your passes.
00:14:32
Speaker
And with that program,
00:14:33
Speaker
which really preparation starts, you choose your subjects for that exam in Form 4 and prepare for that between Form 4 and Form 5.
00:14:40
Speaker
What passes you get also determines your trajectory, the amount of passes you get.
00:14:45
Speaker
A lot of jobs require minimum three passes, usually including English and math.
00:14:51
Speaker
And then there are also some schools where you're able to do as many as seven or eight or nine or ten subjects.
00:14:59
Speaker
I think the standard is seven.
00:15:01
Speaker
But I've known of people who have done like 10 and 12 subjects as well, which is they do additional exams outside of their own schooling as, I guess, bragging rights or whatever.
00:15:11
Speaker
Right, right.
00:15:12
Speaker
And then after CSEC, you have Form 6, which is lower 6 and upper 6.
00:15:16
Speaker
That one is optional.
00:15:18
Speaker
It just keeps going?
00:15:19
Speaker
What is happening here?
00:15:21
Speaker
Yeah, like I said, it's the equivalent of an associate's degree, right?
00:15:25
Speaker
Oh, okay, okay.
00:15:26
Speaker
So you have non-mandatory preschool, which begins as early as 3.
00:15:30
Speaker
Then you have primary school, which starts at five and continues until I think 11 or 12.
00:15:39
Speaker
And then in secondary school, you have your five years in secondary school.
00:15:42
Speaker
Most people graduate around the age of 16, 17.
00:15:46
Speaker
And then you move on to secondary, potentially to upper six, well, lower and upper six, former six.
00:15:54
Speaker
where you would write another exam called the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations, or CAPE.
00:16:00
Speaker
And that also, like I said, is equivalent to an associate's degree.
00:16:04
Speaker
Not everybody does Form 6, but a lot of people do.
00:16:08
Speaker
And it is in large part made possible by, I think Trinidad's culture does have a lot of emphasis on education, right?
00:16:20
Speaker
Most, I don't know about most because I don't have the statistics on hand,
00:16:24
Speaker
But a lot of people who have, if not an associate or a bachelor's, at least a diploma of some kind.
00:16:30
Speaker
Education is very highly valued because education is free from preschool to secondary school.
00:16:38
Speaker
And then from university, it can be free, but it can also be partially paid for.
00:16:43
Speaker
So it's also subsidized.
00:16:44
Speaker
It's quite affordable.
00:16:48
Speaker
So it's something that a lot of people pursue.
00:16:49
Speaker
And so it's very competitive job
Colonial Legacy & Potential for Change
00:16:51
Speaker
markets and stuff as a result.
00:16:52
Speaker
It's a whole thing.
00:16:54
Speaker
It also sounds like literally the definition of a colonial education system.
00:16:58
Speaker
Like you're saying, it's essentially adopted entirely from the British model.
00:17:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:05
Speaker
It's interesting that you had mentioned that that first video that you made for your channel is that one that's called Education is Broken.
00:17:11
Speaker
That was one that I went back and rewatched this week.
00:17:14
Speaker
And you mentioned, I think the first line in that video is schools are problematic, not
00:17:19
Speaker
And that's by design.
00:17:21
Speaker
So, I mean, obviously what you're explaining here is just like this totalizing, systematizing, colonial holdover from, you know, a time where Trinidad-Tobago was an actual colony of Great Britain.
00:17:35
Speaker
That's not even getting into the Concordat.
00:17:38
Speaker
And the Concordat was basically, it's an agreement between the government of Toronto and Tobago and religious bodies in the country that gives religious bodies the right to determine their own curriculum in denominational schools.
00:17:53
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:54
Speaker
It was signed several, several years ago.
00:17:56
Speaker
I can't remember the exact date, but it basically enables.
00:17:59
Speaker
So in addition to government schools, you would also have schools that are run at least in part by the Catholic church, the Anglican church.
00:18:11
Speaker
There are Hindu schools.
00:18:13
Speaker
There are a few Muslim schools as well.
00:18:15
Speaker
And I believe there are certain standards they have to meet in terms of actual curriculum, but they are also able to include their religious components within that.
00:18:28
Speaker
And when I reference, for example, St.
00:18:30
Speaker
Joseph's Convent, I think that is, I believe, the oldest school in Trindad.
00:18:37
Speaker
It was founded in 1870.
00:18:39
Speaker
I don't know if it's the oldest, though.
00:18:42
Speaker
But it's a government-assisted Roman Catholic school.
00:18:46
Speaker
It's the oldest continuous secondary school in Trinidad.
00:18:50
Speaker
So, you know, these institutions have been running these things for a really long time.
00:18:54
Speaker
Right.
00:18:55
Speaker
As you can imagine.
00:18:56
Speaker
And really inculcating these sort of colonial attitudes for a very long time.
00:19:03
Speaker
Is that what you see as being the function, the purpose, perhaps the problem?
00:19:08
Speaker
You know, when you say in that video that schools are problematic by design, what are some of those practices that you see, either just in education generally, in your experience with the colonial education system there in Trinidad and Tobago?
00:19:23
Speaker
What are some of those things that you think, you know, are either irrevocably important
00:19:28
Speaker
intractably part of an education system, or what are some of the practices or the structures and systems that you see that perhaps could either be changed, you know?
00:19:39
Speaker
Oh, that is a vast, vast topic.
00:19:42
Speaker
Do we have time?
00:19:43
Speaker
I guess I'm trying to encapsulate my media bullet points.
00:19:48
Speaker
Sure, sure.
00:19:49
Speaker
I would say that...
00:19:51
Speaker
some of the major issues that I see in the education system include the emphasis on test taking.
00:19:58
Speaker
It is extremely, extremely central to the education system locally.
00:20:05
Speaker
And in some cases, I mean, in addition to CSEC, which is the secondary education exam,
00:20:11
Speaker
you also have certain students taking that concurrently with the SATs, right?
00:20:16
Speaker
Because there's some students who would like to, you know, apply for scholarships and apply for schools abroad.
00:20:22
Speaker
So they're also writing the SATs in preparation for that.
00:20:25
Speaker
So they have the SATs and they have those things, all those things going on at the same time.
00:20:28
Speaker
So I think the emphasis on test taking as the central component of education is something that needs to go.
00:20:34
Speaker
I think the emphasis on academics and a very particular style of learning to the detriment of all other styles of learning and all other educational pursuits is really detrimental.
00:20:45
Speaker
There are trade schools and stuff locally, but you know there's a stigma.
00:20:50
Speaker
There's a stigma associated with pursuing anything other than academics.
00:20:55
Speaker
And that stigma is starting to change because when people are realizing, oh, wait, you know, like three jobs actually good.
00:21:05
Speaker
We need those too, it turns out.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:07
Speaker
But, you know, that's a stigma that exists.
00:21:09
Speaker
Everybody thinks, oh, I don't want my child to be a plumber.
00:21:12
Speaker
I want my child to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, you know, the classic trifecta.
00:21:17
Speaker
Yes.
00:21:18
Speaker
It sounds like a system that's even more designed to rank and sort kids than the American system is.
00:21:25
Speaker
It seems like at least at its core, the American system has the ideal of, I don't know, meritocracy or egalitarianism.
00:21:32
Speaker
And it kind of sounds like that might not even be the case for the colonial British system that, you know, the kids in Trinidad and Tobago are coming up through.
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think if you look into, if we start as early as even pre-primary school, right?
00:21:50
Speaker
So preschool and kindergarten, you have a situation where immediately, because that's not something that is subsidized pre-primary school education, that has to come out of the parents' pocket.
00:22:02
Speaker
And so people who can afford to put their children in that, those children automatically get a head start.
00:22:09
Speaker
compared to all the other children who would be now starting education in preschool, in primary school.
00:22:15
Speaker
And then in primary school, a lot of middle and upper class parents adopt to place their children in private schools as opposed to government schools.
00:22:26
Speaker
And so as a result, you also have that distinction between private school educated children and public school educated children.
00:22:34
Speaker
And then you take the exam and that discrepancy in resources becomes even more apparent when you, um,
00:22:40
Speaker
Once you pass through various schools and some people end up going into schools that are basically dismissed and others are placed into schools that are seen as the paragon of academic accomplishment nationally.
00:22:54
Speaker
You even have situations where somebody might be living in one side of the island and they would make the multi-hour commute journey every day of the week.
00:23:06
Speaker
to put their child in that prestige school that they would have passed for that is on the other side of the island.
00:23:13
Speaker
That is how much emphasis is placed on the prestige of the kind of schools, the school that you would attend.
Student Involvement & Critique of Traditional Models
00:23:22
Speaker
And then you get into, of course, religious bodies and their hand and everything.
00:23:26
Speaker
And then you get into, of course, teachers being paid badly.
00:23:31
Speaker
You get into the lack of teachers in some schools, teachers being absent in some schools.
00:23:37
Speaker
And it just, and then all that takes place.
00:23:41
Speaker
And then
00:23:42
Speaker
You have situations where people drop out of school or people don't pass it, whatever, in those so-called lower class schools.
00:23:49
Speaker
And then in some cases, you know, they turn to crime and we complain about the crime situation in the country.
00:23:54
Speaker
And yet people are not looking at the source where it all begins, the originator of the issue.
00:24:03
Speaker
and the potential self of the issue that was addressed.
00:24:05
Speaker
I think another issue of the education system, not just locally, but internationally, is a lack of involvement of students themselves in their own education.
00:24:17
Speaker
Because, to borrow from Paulo Freire, we have this sort of banking model of education.
00:24:23
Speaker
You have this idea that all students is
00:24:27
Speaker
The teacher teaches and the student is to be taught.
00:24:30
Speaker
The teacher deposits and the students to be deposited within.
00:24:33
Speaker
And so when you don't have that investment and that capacity, really, that power in your own decisions regarding your own education, it becomes very easy to create a sort of compliant work and compliant citizenry that is just used to going along.
00:24:54
Speaker
without education going along with whatever.
00:24:57
Speaker
And so I think one of the primary issues is the lack of student involvement, lack of students' say in their own education.
00:25:05
Speaker
And that is the fault of both parents and teachers and the education ministry and yeah, just the whole apparatus.
00:25:16
Speaker
And it seems like the stakes are particularly high in that, you know, held over British system for students who veer off track or have interests that don't show up on these very high stakes and for their future, both educationally, perhaps socially and economically, you know, in terms of the prestige of the next generation.
00:25:38
Speaker
step of schooling that they get into, you know, the costs are very high for people who veer from that.
00:25:43
Speaker
Is there any sense of an organized movement towards, uh, I'll call it like a humanized reform or our parents pretty much on their own to de-school or unschool, um, their kids.
00:25:58
Speaker
Is there a lot of awareness and momentum and movement in that direction at all?
00:26:01
Speaker
Or I've actually seen some momentum towards, um,
00:26:06
Speaker
like homeschooling, unschooling.
00:26:08
Speaker
Well, homeschooling primarily.
00:26:10
Speaker
Whether that form of homeschooling is radical or not is to be seen, but
00:26:15
Speaker
There are, you know, of course, there is a momentum for homeschooling.
00:26:20
Speaker
There is also, I think every year, the parents of the children that have to do these exams, they do, you know, say there has to be something better than this SEA exam.
00:26:32
Speaker
There have been like passive calls for an end to that exam system.
00:26:37
Speaker
But the political, religious, and economic interests,
00:26:44
Speaker
are far too invested into the way that the education system is right now that there's no political will from the top to actually see those changes implemented.
00:26:55
Speaker
There's also, and we could also speak about like the education
Andrewism's Vision for Change
00:26:59
Speaker
system more broadly and the fact that, you know,
00:27:02
Speaker
Certainly the political system more broadly and the fact that there's a staggering lack of alternatives presented at all in any sort of issue that you face in the country.
00:27:13
Speaker
There's still this sort of back and forth between political parties that neither of which have any interest in actually changing things for the better or have any sort of actual vision for a future or transformation of this place.
00:27:29
Speaker
So there are like...
00:27:32
Speaker
ground level frustrations expressed there are some ground level changes from individuals but unfortunately there is no larger movement agitating for this sort of change i think it would be easier if it was a collaboration between because the teachers express their issues with the education system in terms of their pay and in terms of the fact that they have so many students in one classroom and all these different things and that's an issue
00:27:58
Speaker
teacher to student ratio.
00:28:00
Speaker
You also have teachers who have back pay to you from like 10 years ago that they still haven't gotten paid yet.
00:28:10
Speaker
You have Lord.
00:28:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:28:11
Speaker
You also have situations of course you have parents discussing issues.
00:28:15
Speaker
You have
00:28:15
Speaker
There's also an issue of school fights in certain schools.
00:28:18
Speaker
There's also students and stuff being frustrated, stressed out, teen suicides and stuff as a result of the stresses placed in the education system and at home and all those different things.
00:28:29
Speaker
Of course, that's not the only factor, but I would say that school stress is one of the factors.
00:28:35
Speaker
But there is no drawing together of the parents and the students and the teachers to say,
00:28:42
Speaker
We have all these issues and let's collaborate to make a change.
00:28:46
Speaker
I think part of that is, of course, related to ageism, which is deeply connected with, you know, the issues of the education systems or the ageism.
00:28:55
Speaker
Because even though students may have ideas, students may express issues, know your place.
00:29:01
Speaker
Your place is to go and absorb your education and graduate.
00:29:08
Speaker
Your place is not to actually stop and try and change things.
00:29:11
Speaker
Just do what you're told.
00:29:13
Speaker
So that sort of cultural shift also would need to take place.
00:29:17
Speaker
Seeing kids as agents of change, as capable of creating a different future.
00:29:24
Speaker
Not only would outsiders need to see that, but children themselves would need to see that.
00:29:29
Speaker
We need to recognize that.
00:29:31
Speaker
kind of bring education back into the broader scope of the work that you do on your channel.
00:29:37
Speaker
A lot of it is, while those previous comments kind of seem, you know, like things are trapped in this stagnation or the status quo, a lot of the work that you do on the channel is a lot more visionary in its scope and talks of change making and liberation and building alternate futures.
00:29:56
Speaker
Do you kind of see your channel as an outlet for that?
00:30:00
Speaker
Or what are kind of the goals and aspirations?
Empowering Collective Action in Education
00:30:02
Speaker
Yeah, of you talking about change making, what, what advice do you offer to young people or educators who would desire to make change, you know, either locally in your own context, or in the broader context of education, politics, society, more broadly, you know?
00:30:18
Speaker
Yeah, so I think actually one of the main reasons that I started the channel is because I wanted to express, to get these things out here, these things I was learning about.
00:30:26
Speaker
Originally, my channel was meant to be for a local audience, but it wasn't really picked up by a local audience, and it ended up being picked up by an international audience.
00:30:37
Speaker
I do have a local audience still, but of course, not the majority of the 100,000 people that I have at this point.
00:30:45
Speaker
But...
00:30:46
Speaker
I really wanted to put forth not just an opposition to the way things are, not just a criticism of what is, which is what I was seeing a lot of online, but to also project, to put out, to imagine what if, you know, what other futures might we explore, what other solutions we'll be able to implement in the here and now.
00:31:09
Speaker
And that is part of why I've continued to hold fast to, I guess, my anarchist principles, my anarchist political philosophy, because I believe that it has been the vehicle through which I've been able to understand a lot of the issues that I see and also how solutions may be found.
00:31:29
Speaker
Because of anarchism's emphasis on anarchism as a method, because of its emphasis on prefigurative politics, which is the development of relationships and institutions and structures and organizations meant to reflect a desired future in the here and now, because of its emphasis on that prefigurative politics, I have continued to use it to fuel my delivery of these ideas to
00:31:56
Speaker
help me realize a better understanding of what my goals and aspirations are.
00:32:02
Speaker
For the educators, there are a lot of different approaches you can take with this, right?
00:32:08
Speaker
I'll start with addressing students themselves.
00:32:10
Speaker
I believe it starts with recognizing something that this entire system has been structured to prevent you from recognizing, which is that you do have power.
00:32:22
Speaker
As an isolated individual, your power may be minimal, but you still have power as an individual.
00:32:27
Speaker
Where the real power lies is as a collective and as a coming together of forces.
00:32:35
Speaker
We tend to think of that in the realm of labor unions, right?
00:32:39
Speaker
Where, you know, one worker versus multiple workers.
00:32:43
Speaker
And the reason there is so much opposition to unionizing is because of just how powerful unionizing as a force is.
00:32:50
Speaker
The same applies to students, I believe.
00:32:55
Speaker
I believe that there is potential if enough students were to come together to demand certain changes being made, to collaborate with sympathetic educators and to collaborate with sympathetic parents.
00:33:08
Speaker
That such changes could be made.
00:33:09
Speaker
I mean, it's not like we are, let's not even get into the realm of the ideal education system.
00:33:17
Speaker
If we've been talking about improvements, massive improvements in the education system, there are multiple models that already exist, that are already in practice around the world today that we can learn from and replicate and build upon.
00:33:31
Speaker
Thinking about the free schools, for example, thinking about the Freire movement, thinking about the Montessori education system.
00:33:42
Speaker
There are elements within all of these systems and curriculums that provide avenues.
00:33:48
Speaker
Democratic schools is another example.
00:33:50
Speaker
They provide avenues for students to have a say to practice exercising their own power, to practice their ability to collaborate with others for shared goals, to develop their powers,
00:34:06
Speaker
to make change and to develop their powers and to develop their drives rather, to seek those changes out, to build upon their consciousness so that they're able to understand the world around them and understand their place within it and how they can shape it.
Organized Efforts for Educational Change
00:34:20
Speaker
And this is where I just get back to, you know, this is not a sort of change that any person in the position of power want to see because it goes contrary to the very aims of creating a compliant citizenry.
00:34:34
Speaker
creating a passive populace.
00:34:37
Speaker
So I think for students, I want them to understand their power.
00:34:42
Speaker
I want them to look at examples of history around the world and think about ways that they can see those changes made.
00:34:50
Speaker
Of course, every education system is different.
00:34:52
Speaker
The autonomy of various educations is different.
00:34:55
Speaker
The size of countries may be different.
00:34:57
Speaker
So, for example, a movement in a few schools, in a handful of schools in Trinidad, for example, may be able to have a much larger impact on the education system than the same amount of schools might have in a country as large as the United States, right?
00:35:13
Speaker
But that doesn't mean that such efforts would go to ways that no change could occur.
00:35:19
Speaker
If every school in a county or a state, then perhaps they could see a shift.
00:35:27
Speaker
I mean, what I'm seeing in the U.S. is...
00:35:31
Speaker
it's a delusional effort but it's an effort and a collective and organized effort nonetheless to see the removal of critical race theory from schools right that is an organized effort by parents across the united states and they are showing up to these school board meetings they're showing up at their schools and changes are being made now
00:35:55
Speaker
Where I think people get tripped up is they see conservatives doing something and they think, oh, well, that means that people on the left do the same thing.
00:36:04
Speaker
Yes and no.
00:36:06
Speaker
Yes, we can organize on a large scale and see changes come to pass.
00:36:12
Speaker
But I don't believe it will be as easy.
00:36:16
Speaker
as it is for conservatives, because conservatives by and large are reinforcing a preexisting status quo.
00:36:24
Speaker
They may desire certain tweaks in a negative direction, but they are still reinforced.
00:36:30
Speaker
So they don't really come into combat with power structures, the way that the changes that we would be trying to implement would come into conflict with, you know, such power structures.
00:36:43
Speaker
And so
00:36:45
Speaker
Recognizing that, yeah, we can organize in this way, but also it's not going to be as easy as some of these parents who are just able to ban entire bookshelves from their school libraries with just a whim.
Solar Punk as a Hopeful Narrative
00:37:01
Speaker
I don't want to shift gears too dramatically, but I would be seriously remiss if we weren't able to try to see how, in the bigger picture scheme of things, that solar punk vision of the future fits into it.
00:37:17
Speaker
Some of the most popular videos on your channel are related to that notion of solar punk, and you've collaborated with other channels to produce information and activism and awareness and consciousness raising around those things.
00:37:30
Speaker
So let's bring that vision into this conversation of status quo and political and social arrangements here.
00:37:39
Speaker
So what does solar punk offer as a future worth attaining or building towards since you've spent so much time thinking and creating advocacy around it?
00:37:51
Speaker
I mean, I adopted solo punk as an aesthetic on top of my pre-existing politics because I believe it's one of the most powerful venues.
00:37:58
Speaker
The story and the visuals, the aesthetic that solo punk projects is something that I believe is far more powerful than any amount of oratory skill, any amount of political theory might possess.
00:38:13
Speaker
I think that when it comes to what solo punk offers as part of a future
00:38:21
Speaker
with building towards, I think it offers a balanced, if well, if properly applied, I think it offers a balanced sense of hope, a recognition that we can build towards the best and also prepare for the worst because there is a spectrum
00:38:41
Speaker
of sort of solarpunk ideas and visions, right?
00:38:45
Speaker
There are visions of solarpunk that are highly optimistic.
00:38:49
Speaker
They're like, oh, we invent this technology and then we solve climate change and we all live happily ever after.
00:38:54
Speaker
And then there are also visions of solarpunk that are like, oh yeah, the climate apocalypse, it happened, but also...
00:39:01
Speaker
we are surviving and thriving nonetheless.
00:39:03
Speaker
We built a better world that is able to withstand.
00:39:06
Speaker
We built a resilient world.
00:39:08
Speaker
We built a more inclusive world.
00:39:10
Speaker
We built a slower, more intentional, and more meaningful way of life.
00:39:16
Speaker
I think I'm on that latter end of things.
00:39:19
Speaker
I think that what Soda Punk offers is the ability to recognize
00:39:26
Speaker
things might get bad, but even when things get bad, that doesn't mean that all is lost.
00:39:34
Speaker
There are still things that we can explore in our local scene, changes we can make on a local and regional level to create a more resilient, a more autonomous, a more democratic, a more ecologically grounded way of life.
00:39:52
Speaker
And so I think Solapunk offers something for both the
00:39:56
Speaker
hopeful futurists who want to see amazing climate change solved world.
00:40:03
Speaker
And also I think it offers something to people who are battling with accepting the fact that, you know, even with our best of efforts, climate change is already here.
00:40:16
Speaker
And, you know, we don't want to slip into apathy or tumorism or worse.
00:40:22
Speaker
So what can we do?
00:40:23
Speaker
I think Swell of the Punk offers a what you can do.
00:40:26
Speaker
When it is grounded in, I think, a coherent political schema, I think Soul of Punk offers that what you can do, even when things seem to be getting worse.
Conclusion & Call to Action
00:40:38
Speaker
I think I would fit in with your camp as well in terms of thinking that it's going to take the excesses of capitalism and probably some amount of ecological disaster for the pendulum to begin to swing back the other way, just kind of given the trajectory of things and where we're at in terms of climate change right now.
00:40:59
Speaker
But it is certainly the case then that solar punk will provide us
00:41:03
Speaker
the response and the reaction and the what's next sort of idea.
00:41:07
Speaker
So if we can't turn around the excesses of capitalism and global climate change right now, how do we do that 10 years down the line when temperatures have risen or when, you know, we finally see that this thing brings us to the brink of collapse?
00:41:23
Speaker
That doesn't mean that we have to go away or that doesn't mean we have to, you know, live these miserable, you
00:41:30
Speaker
impoverished lives it actually gives us as you had mentioned not just the the hope but hope is a platform for action in terms of how we can rebuild and do things better in the absence of the excesses of this the previous system one of the things i really intended to emphasize was our power to see these changes come to pass and i think i also wanted to deliver the point that
00:41:57
Speaker
Solarpunk has something to offer for people involved in all sorts of struggles for change.
00:42:06
Speaker
I think it offers a way of framing those struggles within a sort of picture that one can look towards as they struggle to make those changes as something to look forward to rather than something to just avoid or to fight against.
00:42:24
Speaker
And so
00:42:25
Speaker
I know that Swordpunk may be contentious for some because they see some interpretations of it that are high technology and they're like, oh, what about the rare earth minerals and this and the other?
00:42:36
Speaker
And I completely hear that perspective.
00:42:38
Speaker
And so I know that Swordpunk is not for everybody.
00:42:42
Speaker
Even my brand of medium to low tech and
00:42:49
Speaker
rewilded form of of solopunk but i still want to extend that invitation to sort of interpret how super can be applied to one's own desired future if it has any place at all and also invite people to involve themselves in shaping solopunk it's not completely set in stone yet it's still an evolving idea
00:43:15
Speaker
that we all have the potential to shape.
00:43:16
Speaker
And if you want to see, for example, an emphasis on changes in the education system and creating a liberated education and to quote the Human Restoration Project's website, to see social justice as a cornerstone of educational success and to see learning rooted in purpose-finding and community relevance, then come and be a part and see that aspect of things flourish.
00:43:45
Speaker
Well, gosh, I appreciate you taking the time today, Andrew, a future with the human face and dirt behind its ears.
00:43:51
Speaker
I think that's something valuable and noble for us to work and to strive for.
00:43:58
Speaker
And I appreciate the ability to collaborate with you internationally and for us to kind of be in solidarity and in community together.
00:44:07
Speaker
So I appreciate you taking the time.
00:44:09
Speaker
Definitely.
00:44:09
Speaker
And thanks again for having me, Nick.
00:44:13
Speaker
Thank you again for listening to our podcast at Human Restoration Project.
00:44:16
Speaker
I hope this conversation leaves you inspired and ready to start making change.
00:44:20
Speaker
If you enjoyed listening, please consider leaving us a review on your favorite podcast player.
00:44:24
Speaker
Plus, find a whole host of free resources, writings, and other podcasts all for free on our website, humanrestorationproject.org.
00:44:31
Speaker
Thank you.