The Importance of Critical Mass

The democratic school model relies on the founding principal of democracy, that majority rules.  As you learn more about the democratic school model, you will no doubt question how this is feasible, especially in unionized, elementary environments.  The notion that a class of 23 elementary students can out vote an educator on classroom decisions seems, well, a little insane.  But trust me, it works when implemented properly.

One of the first steps to proper implementation is ensuring enough staff are onboard with the concept.  Critical mass does not require a majority to begin movement.  The concept of critical mass is dependent on the situation.  In a large movement, such as social demonstrations against government action, critical mass might mean the majority, as we often see in the news.  In small movements, like implementing the democratic school model in an elementary school, it might be 3 or 4 classrooms, or an entire division of the school. 

The importance of achieving critical mass in all cases is how it effects the policy makers.  When a group of educators in a school approach administrators and say, ‘hey, we want to implement this because…’ the administrator feels compelled to agree because saying no to many is a lot harder than saying no to one.  Strong, transformative school leaders listen, trust and support their staff. 

If you have a transformative school leader, you may only need 2 or 3 educators to achieve critical mass, at least to get the ball rolling.  If your administrator struggles to let go and is more transactional than transformative, critical mass might require many more educators. 

Once you get the green light from administration (which isn’t a necessary step but a good one), your group moves into the implementation phase.  Critical mass is equally as important here.  Your group’s job, beyond successfully implementing the democratic school model and helping serve students effectively, is to model how incredible the democratic school model is to the rest of the school.  Each and every conversation had with other educators, students and community members helps build to critical mass, when all of a sudden everyone is asking how they can get involved and implement the tenets of the democratic school model in their classroom.  The positive effects of an entire school running the democratic school model will be far greater than the effects of just a few classrooms.