Ecojustice and Social Justice

The Commons and Educational Reform

Educational reforms that contribute to the revitalization of the commons, in effect, represent pedagogical practices that are achievable within different communities and bioregions. Rather than being built on abstract theories about emancipation or transformation, these practices are grounded in the diverse day-to-day relationships and needs of particular communities and built upon important knowledges and traditions passed down through many generations. Rather than arguing for universal application, this approach to educational reform begins by recognizing the specificity of local cultures—the attending languages, practices, beliefs, decision-making patterns, and so on—in relation to a particular geographical context. It also recognizes that all communities and cultures share the necessity to preserve the life systems that they depend upon to survive. Thus, while the particular ways they may go about creating these practices and relations may differ radically, all cultures create a “commons.”

The commons are not a theoretical abstraction, and thus they should not be understood as a project to be achieved in the future. They represent the aspects of everyday life and of the natural world that have not yet been privatized and monetized. Scholars in this field refer to “enclosure of the commons” when the shared aspects of day-to-day life that once contributed to the general well-being of communities are transformed into privately owned money-making resources. Many taken-for-granted aspects of life are practices that have been refined and handed down through many generations, including practices as seemingly mundane as the way to make a bed, set a table, shingle a roof, or stack wood; more threatened practices like gathering and preserving seeds or protecting life in a stream; and more formalized practices and principles such as those represented in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are two parts of the U.S. commons that are shared by all citizens and keeping American communities healthy.

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