The Need for Civil Disobedience and Radical Change in Education

Abstract

This article argues that it is necessary to fight for a radical and immediate restructuring of our educational systems. Young people are currently being prepared for a future that does not exist, and we are lying to them and to ourselves by pretending that we can address the climate and ecological emergency from within existing educational and political paradigms. The author's argument that direct action and civil disobedience are essential in achieving the change that is needed might sound extreme to some people. But the consequences of inaction are far more extreme. We are taught – constantly and not only in schools – that breaking the rules is wrong. But if following the rules means conforming with collective behaviours that are rapidly destroying the living planet and our chances of continued life on it, then we must quickly learn to constructively disobey. Radical change for a more humane educational system is needed for its own sake, but, in the current emergency, this need for change is not only necessary but also urgent.