The BBC reported on saturday that the Occupy movement is looking to extend its activities to outreach; that is to the wider community including schools. The BBC reports:
The protest group says the point of its occupation is to reclaim "the space in the face of the financial system and using it to voice ideas for how we can work towards a better future".
Mr Kelsey Fry, who has been at the camp every day since it started, said it had become a focal point for young people interested in political activism, with teenagers travelling from all over the country to visit. Many had joined in its people's assemblies, where issues are discussed openly and everybody taking part is given an equal voice. He said:
"So many of the camps, not just at St Paul's but around the country, will be cleared away in the next few weeks so outreach is a really good way to move things on. Young people are a very large part of society and they are voiceless. They will be the people who inherit a troubled future. We are not trying to indoctrinate them or recruit them, we are trying to use the citizenship curriculum to give young people the tools to take up the issues that are important to them."
Many schools may well see this approach as a challenge; whereas actually, it's a test of their liberal education values, and one, I trust, that they will not fail.
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