In The Schools |

In The Schools

CCLET: Civil Liberties In Our Schools

Introduction

It is often said that, of all the systems of government in this world, democracy especially requires a well-educated citizenry. The Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust profoundly supports this proposition. Indeed, the Trust has devoted much of its efforts to the promotion of public education around issues related to the philosophy and practice of democratic institutions.

But our organization has gone even further. It has developed a special - perhaps, even unique -approach. Some organizations focus on harmonious feelings. Others attempt primarily to transmit helpful information. The Trust’s chief concern is to help people think relevantly about the dilemmas endemic to life in a democratic society.

This means going beyond conflicts between good and bad. Our main interest is what to do when good conflicts with good and right with right. Our message to people is that every value we hold dear inevitably collides with another value we hold dear. It is not possible to have everything we want all at once. Some worthy objectives must be sacrificed - at least to some degree - in order that we can attain other worthy objectives. There are rarely easy and unencumbered choices.

The question for democrats is how to make the choices that confront us. To what extent should one value be subordinated to another and in which situations? As an organization, the Trust is less concerned with answers than with the methods for reaching those answers.

This approach has particularly characterized our interactions with the educational system. Over the years, the Trust has been invited to address both students and teachers. Invariably, we have confronted our audiences with these difficult dilemmas. Almost without fail, such encounters have produced exciting and stimulating discussions and debates. On numbers of occasions, both students and teachers have reported how uniquely engaged the classes were when our speakers involved them in discussion - discussion that continued well beyond the walls of the classroom.

The document entitled The Fundamentals of Our Fundamental Freedoms explains the purposes behind our basic freedoms and safeguards. It sets out some examples of the problems that arise where those freedoms collide with one another and with other social interests. These are the kinds of issues presented by representatives of the Civil Liberties in the Schools Project.

Representatives of the Trust address students and teachers at universities, colleges, high schools, and elementary schools. For more information about Civil Liberties in the Schools, contact Danielle McLaughlin at the CCLA office (phone 416-363-0321; fax 416-861-1291 email: education@ccla.org.