CONNECTIONS QUARTERLY SUMMER 2025
WELCOME
STUDENT EMPOWERMENT
There has been much, legitimate, commentary that many young people have too little resilience. I have heard little conversation following that statement about what can be done to help with this situation. Well, embracing student autonomy builds resilience. Over the years I have heard educators question the value of student autonomy and in fact as I began my teaching career, I would not have been an advocate of the concept. Over the years my strong support of student autonomy comes from a truer understanding of it and witnessing it as an important tool of those considered great teachers.
Student autonomy can be confused with the concept of a“ hands off” teacher who lets students do whatever they want. Further, student autonomy can be mistakenly thought of as working against the idea of a school community.
A teacher who embraces student autonomy makes clear goals and then lays out possible ways for each student to find their path to achieve the goal. Depending on the goal, age of the child, etc., the student may be empowered to find their own means to achieve the goal or maybe adapt the goal. From Maria Montessori over a century ago to High Tech High a few years ago, great educational thinkers push us away from an uninformative, factory approach to the classroom to student autonomy. In so doing, we move from memorizing to understanding, from obedience to self-motivation.
While this concept makes sense, the question of how to do it probably arises. Luckily the following edition of Connections is designed for that. •
Bob Mattingly, Executive Director of CSEE
CSEE Connections Summer 2025 Page 1