Reading Group: Work in the 21st Century – Changing labour relations in Holland
April 18 – June 18, 2012 Sign-up now

“If workers can manage a factory, we can manage the school,”
CHILE: “If workers can manage a factory, we can manage the school,” says Cristóbal, 17, as he flashes a smile. Cristóbal is a student at the Luis Galecio Corvera A-90 high school in the Santiago borough of San Miguel. The school is among the 200 in the city that students have occupied. On September 26, they decided to follow the example of the workers of Cerámicas Zanón, the Argentine factory workers took over and began running it ten years ago. “Things were getting complicated because the occupation was weakening,” Cristóbal says. “It was clear to us that it wasn’t enough to just criticize our education. We had to do something more, but we didn’t know where to start until we heard that the Zanón workers were giving a talk at the University of Chile. We went to listen to them and when we came back we started running the school ourselves.” Camilo, a second-year student: “Now [that the students run the school], you can just be who you are. You can just freely express yourself, you come here to be educated, not to be militarized.” Source: Edu-factory, RAÚL ZIBECHI, February 15, 2012.

‘Alternative University’ Project Redefines the Way We Learn.
UNITED STATES: Still in its infancy, the idea for the Alternative University Project first arose at the McGill University, conceived by students in the midst of tuition protests and the looming possibility of student strikes. It has since grown to include over 50 members and many others who support the idea of stepping outside the conventional university to learn. The project aims to redefine the educational system by offering free classes taught by students and professors while encouraging a communal learning structure. It is non-hierarchical, consensus-based and run entirely by volunteer learners and facilitators. The AUP’s academic calendar currently boasts 11 courses described as “drop-dead gorgeous” that allow one to participate in studies in post-capitalist futures, a programming and web-design study group, a sustainable architecture studies course—and even a knitting class. Source: The Link, COREY POOL, January 24, 2012

Undocumented Students in Georgia Forced to Attend Underground ‘Freedom University’
UNITED STATES: Freedom University is an ad hoc underground school in Athens, Georgia, US, where university professors volunteer to teach undocumented students who are kept out of the public classroom. Indeed, as Georgia votes in its Super Tuesday primary, the State Senate has voted to ban undocumented immigrant students from all public universities, DemocracyNow reports. Undocumented students from Georgia are already barred from the state’s five most competitive schools and must pay out-of-state tuition at other state schools. “Telling us that we cannot obtain higher education, that we cannot go to college or community college, even if we work hard and do our best in school, it is crushing dreams, it is crushing goals,” says Keish Kim, an undocumented student from South Korea who now attends Freedom University. Source: watch the full videoreport on DemocracyNow!, March 6, 2012