About Us
Supporting Freedom of Expression in Schools
Mission
To build a national network of teachers and parents who support freedom of thought and expression, so our nation’s K-12 schools produce independent thinkers prepared to address society's complex challenges.
Philosophy
At the Educational Liberty Alliance, we believe that children’s education is the foundation of a healthy society.
Today, that foundation is being undermined by a narrow and exclusionary way of teaching and thinking that is ascendant in many of our schools. It forecloses intellectual inquiry and declares any dissent as illegitimate and immoral. Educational policy and curricula are increasingly being developed through this lens. In addition, teachers are encouraged to advocate favored political causes and to promote student activism in support of those causes while silencing contrary opinions and perspectives. Many teachers, parents, and students fear the undeserved moral condemnation and personal and professional risk in disagreeing with the narratives now dominant in the schools.
This environment is inimical to learning. Students must pursue unfettered inquiry to learn to think for themselves. That is how the mind grows.
For that reason, students need exposure to multiple viewpoints and nuance. And their teachers should encourage this type of environment while refraining from advertising their own beliefs on sensitive issues and unduly influencing young minds.
At the same time, teachers should be comfortable challenging current educational dogma without fearing for their livelihoods.
Finally, parents must be able to express opinions about what schools are teaching without fear of retribution for them or their children.
We promote free and open educational inquiry in K-12 schools to grow independent minds and eliminate anti-intellectual fear and intimidation. The Alliance is a forum where those who share these same beliefs can meet, collaborate, coordinate, and enjoy open and respectful intellectual discourse on a limitless range of educational topics.
The Educational Liberty Alliance is a non-partisan, non-profit organization.
“The teacher ought also to be especially on his guard against taking unfair advantage of the students' immaturity by indoctrinating him with the teacher’s own opinions before the student has had an opportunity fairly to examine other opinions upon the matters of question, and before he has sufficient knowledge and ripeness in judgment to be entitled to form any definitive opinion of his own.”
-American Association of University Professors Declaration of Principles, 1915
Our Work
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Conferences & Events: An open forum with speakers from different perspectives to tackle controversial issues will allow the best ideas to surface. Further, it will help those who believe in our mission to hone their arguments and to advocate more effectively in favor of freedom of thought and expression in schools. Hearing all sides to attain truth is what we want for our schools, and, therefore, what we intend for the Alliance.
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Resources: Studies, essays, and curricular materials will make it easier for teachers and parents to prepare and defend their advocacy. Many school systems and non-profits provide ready made, researched materials advancing the dominant narrative. Busy teachers and parents concerned about the K-12 environment lack the time and resources to research and prepare responses. We aim to be a repository they can rely upon for these types of materials.
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Networking: Conferences and the Alliance's networking initiatives will help teachers and parents feel less isolated and will give them confidence to advocate for what they think is right in the schools.
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Mentorship: Networking opportunities with other open-minded educators provide mentorship opportunities and help with career placement and advancement for those who support our mission.
“The idea that you’d have somebody in government making a decision about what you should think ahead of time … runs contrary to everything we believe about education. That might work in the Soviet Union, but that doesn’t work here. That's not who we are.”
- President Barack Obama
"There is no greater barrier to understanding than the assumption that the standpoint which we happen to occupy is a universal one."
-H. Richard Niebuhr