We advocate the promotion of peer counseling and teaching. We also support encouraging older children to work with younger ones for mutual academic and emotional benefit. Goal-setting and evaluation of the learning process should include the input of the student along with that of the teacher and should be based on progress, enjoyment, and creative ability to come up with a new response in each situation rather than the ability to meet standards and to conform. Excessive regimentation of the classroom in terms of both spatial design and the temporal division of the day must be avoided. These experiences, which could include public service projects, field experiences, and work experiences, should be valued as highly as academic learning.
All people have a right to continuing or higher education.
Such education should be publicly financed and viewed as a good and necessary investment in our future. We deplore the trend toward specialization in undergraduate schools. We favor policies that encourage holistic, interdisciplinary, bioregionally conscious college curricula as essential for the development of effective citizens. Students must learn how to learn. We oppose the ever-increasing military and corporate control over the priorities and topics of academic research.