Economics Class, Alexandra Park Sunday August 5th

Texts for the economics class on August 5th are posted at
http://occupyeconomics.ca/pdf/memetics.pdf

Saturday July 28th, and Sunday July 29th Schedules

Saturday, July 28th:
Starting at 12pm in Queen's Park, Occupy Gardens is hosting a garden party. Bring some food for the potluck (and a reusable plate, fork, and cup), some instruments to jam, and good spirit. There will be discussions and free gardening classes all day! Free'scool will be there as well - we have some things to discuss as a group, and are bringing banners and information on the mega quarry. If you can contribute some materials as well that would be great.
If anyone would like to help set up, please come at 11:15am.

12:30-1pm - Opening Ceremony
1-2pm - Plant a Summer Garden: Hands on Workshop
           - Campus Garden Tour with Dig In! UofT Campus Agriculture
2-3:30pm - Food Politics and the Occupy Movement: talk and discussion
2:30-3pm - Garden Tour of Kahonitake Kitikan: Native Students' Association Garden
3-3:30pm - Seed Saving: hands on workshop
3:30-4pm - Vermicomposting: hands on workshop

Sunday, July 29th:
12:00pm - Gather - opening free'scool ceremony
12:30pm - Kung-Fu
1:00pm - Community Resilience
3:00pm - Real Democracy, First Nations history
5:00pm - break! Potluck (please bring food!!!!!!!), relax, go for a walk
6:30pm - Natural Cordage Making, Economics Discussion
8:00pm - Understanding Resistance (this week, we're looking at arts-based resistance)
10:00pm - go home : )

An update for Sunday, July 22nd

1. Natural Cordage class has been pushed to next week. 

6:30-8pm slot will be used for some small-group free'scool work...like we did last week. topics include: little truths parade through pedestrian sunday, media class/stories, megaquarry and saturday (july 28th) support. 

love you all, and free'scool is developing AMAZINGLY!

Sunday July 22nd Schedule

1-3pm - Community Resilience: Class will involved discussion and create space for exploring and managing alternatives in communities. We will look at preparation and adaption at the local level in light of significant changes in society due to unprecedented climate change, peak oil, future energy shortages, globalization, etc. Length: 8 weeks. Goal: bring resources to students to help them talk to and work to organize their communities such that they are strengthened and empowered communities so that they can be prepared in times of crisis. 


            - Ayurveda Health: Traditional Indian Medicine. Ayurveda is the holistic medical system of ancient India that has been in practice for over 5000 years. It explains how the 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether interact in the cycles of natures and in our bodies. Illness arises from specific elements out of balance. Understanding these natural cycles allows us to bring the elements back into balance and restore health. This course will be 1 class and comprise of lecture with lots of time for questions and discussion, experiential exercises, and easy home remedies.

3-5pm – Real Democracy
            - First Nations Stories

5-6pm - potluck and party - please bring some fruit and/or other food. 

6:30pm - Economic Discussion: how to re-vamp the course/what do we want/need to know? 

6:30pm-8pm - Cordage-making (making natural rope)***** Put off until Sunday July 29th****: Brief history of natural cordage. Plants to use and how to prepare them (Plants include: dogbane, milkweed, recycled fibers- you can pretty much cord anything). Brief information on ethical and respectful harvesting. Learning how to cord! Ideas for cordage 

8pm-10pm – Understanding Resistance 

Sunday July 15th Schedule

12:30-1pm - Gather...anyone interested in teaching yoga or other exercise?
1:00-3pm - Human Rights with Jo                 
                - Plant Identification with Doug
3:00-5pm - Occupy Democracy with Brent
                 - First Nations History with Brenda
5:00-6pm - Social Hour and Dinner 

                 - Reminiscing about Occupy Toronto on their 9 month anniversary

                 - People interested in Fundraising will meet to discuss scavenger hunt

                 - Discuss Letter to UofT Engineering Society re: skule

                 - Discuss support for COMER's July 18th Court Case Against the Bank of Canada (Press Release) 

                 - If you play music, come entertain us :)

                 - Eat and Have Fun 

6:00-8pm - Political Intervention Theatre with Grace
                 - Natural Dyes with Doug
8:00-10pm - Understanding Resistance with Roxy 

2 New Course Coming Soon to Free'scool: Healing The Mind and Ayurveda Health

Healing the Mind: A Discussion Course on Self-Esteem and Self Empowerment

A 16 week course (2 hours, 1 day a week) Start time: TBA

with Chantel Tophen

This course is designed to encourage people to shine a light on the behaviors and thought patterns that may be holding them back from becoming happy, healthy, self-confident, positive, constructive, complete and empowered. It is intended to serve as a guide for each individual to work their way through their issues in order to achieve self-esteem in its truest form and thus raising the self-esteem of those around them just by being an example of how influential and inspiring a person can and will become once they have mastered control over their thought and behavior patterns. By healing thyself, you heal those around you, and I believe this to be a very important first step in creating a world where everyone feels free and welcome to be themselves and secure of themselves enough to help and encourage those around them to feel free and welcome to do the same.

Many parts of this course include sharing experiences, memories, and feelings with each other. It is not a requirement to participate in those exercises if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. It is also possible to learn from other people’s examples if that is how you prefer to participate, although I would encourage full participation if possible, when you are ready.

Passing this course does not mean receiving a passing grade. There will be no grades given. Passing is your own evaluation of your progress and whether you feel you could benefit from taking this course again, or if you feel you’ve absorbed what you needed to and are ready to move on with the skills and information you’ve retained. http://www.facebook.com/healingthemind.toronto

Please email us if you are interested in taking this course - it will start after students show interest. Email: torontofreescool@gmail.com  Subject: Healing the Mind

 Intro to Ayurveda: Traditional Indian Medicine

               1-time Workshop July 15th, 2012 1-3pm

with Lilou Moonbeat 

Ayurveda is the holistic medical system of ancient India that has been in practice for over 5000 years. It explains how the 5 elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether interact in the cycles of natures and in our bodies. Illness arises from specific elements out of balance. Understanding these natural cycles allows us to bring the elements back into balance and restore health. 
This course will be 1 class and comprise of lecture with lots of time for questions and discussion, experiential exercises, and easy home remedies.


Please email us if you are interested in taking this workshop. 
Email: torontofreescool@gmail.com  Subject: Ayurveda

Recap of July 8th Human Rights Class/ Reminder: class takes place tonight @7:30pm, OISE 5th floor

Focus- responsibilities to respect fulfill promote and defend human rights

state-all institutions and individuals 

questions re value of treaties 

discussion of obligation regardless of enforcement 

discussion about the festival for education as class project

Links to issues of concern- environment-the basics water food housing

Idea: defend water first -such as the mega quarry project

field trip- to Mega Quarry Action 

Homework assignment:

Bring a question, statement, poem or whatever medium you prefer that expresses-concisely, what you want to say to the people about the human right to water. 

Individual homework: research the quarry conflict so we are informed before we get involved in action.

educator request-please someone assist Roxy with bookmobile....

Idea: new students get briefed by current students in small groups 

- also please post useful data and articles for library

Time change: 

Given the level of activity being generated and the need for some people to leave the city on some weekends, we are going to hold the next class and others to follow after the student union mtg on teusday evening-730 or so...

there will be a class next sunday.

Sundays off will be posted soon.

ps. I would appreciate occasional snacks to share around, and good homework we can use for action learning 

Thank everybody for attending! 

- Josephine Grey

Human Rights Teacher 

Free Skule is On Break This Week

Just a Reminder: free skule is on break this week (ironically coinciding perfectly with the corporate universities' reading week).
Student Union meetings will resume on July 3rd
Classes resume on July 8th.
peace, and enjoy pride week!

Direct Action Class' June 22nd Action

TORONTO DELUGED WITH RED SQUARES IN SOLIDARITY WITH STUDENT RIGHTS

TORONTO, ONTARIO - 22 JUNE 2012 - As a class project of a Toronto Free Skule course, students unveiled red squares in the city today to draw attention to the abhorrent condition of Ontario’s post-secondary education system. Acting in solidarity with the “Maple Spring” student movement quickly spreading across Canada, they hope to inspire a greater awareness of the issues facing students in Ontario today. The red square, the iconic symbol of the Quebec student strike, signifies that students are “squarely in the red” - that is, deeply indebted because of the costs of education. The issues of debt and education costs are pressing for Ontario students, who pay the highest tuition in Canada. Students' human rights are being violated, and a major policy reversal is needed to correct these violations.

Toronto Free Skulers' Drop Banner above highway, June 22nd 2012

Canada's commitment to uphold the right to education is enshrined in several documents, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This treaty recognizes that “education is both a human right in itself and an indispensable means of realizing other human rights”. As part of this agreement, governments are obliged to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to education, by not creating barriers to education, and by actively supporting individuals and communities in attaining education. As well, the Covenant states: “Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education”. Our government's obligation to uphold the right to education is crystal clear. But when we look at their actions, it is equally clear that they have ignored this responsibility.

Funding for education has been disappearing rapidly. While government funding once covered 80% of postsecondary operating costs, today it only covers 50%. Tuition fee hikes have been implemented to cover this funding shortfall, yet as we pay more, the quality of education falls. Between 1990 and 2006, the ratio of students to full time faculty increased by nearly 40%. Provincially, the government’s behaviour has been abhorrent. In the 1990s, under Premier Mike Harris, Ontario saw a 25% cut in funding for Ontario universities. In 1998, Harris deregulated tuition fees for all graduate and certificate professional programs, resulting in tuition fee hikes of over 500%. This has never been rectified! There is further evidence of displacement of funds: at times, the province of Ontario has decreased funding in the same year that the Canada Social Transfer has increased. Where’s our money actually going?

We must also look at the oppressive denial of education for First Nations, consistent with the systematic oppression on which Canada was and continues to be built. Between 1992 and 1997, the government shifted funding for First Nations’ post-secondary education to block funding, and in 1996, increase to funding was capped. Because of this, 10,500 First Nations youth were denied postsecondary funding between 2001 and 2006. First Nations, the fastest growing and youngest population in Canada, are systematically denied education. This is shameful, and unacceptable.

So, just how much have tuition fees gone up? In 1990/91 tuition fees were $1653; and for the 2011/12 school year, fees averaged an incredible $6640. Adjusted for inflation, tuition fees have seen a real increase of 244% since 1990, and they are projected to increase by 4-4.5% annually for the foreseeable future. Increasingly, the burden of education costs is being shifted onto the shoulders of students.

The debt load which accompanies these fees is daunting, with a provincial average of $26,000 for an undergraduate degree. This is understandably a huge obstacle, and a deterrent particularly for students from low-income backgrounds and students with children. Debt also has a negative effect on retention rates, and success. This is perpetuated through an extremely problematic loan system, the Ontario Student Assistance Program, or OSAP. After being assessed by OSAP, students are allotted extremely minimal living allowances amounting to a measly $7.50 per day for food. If a student is not healthy enough to think, isn’t their ability to enjoy education hindered? 

Consequently, students with high debt levels are far less likely to complete their education; if they do graduate, their career choices are highly distorted by this burden. By forcing students to work while they study, we are preventing them from reaching their potential and in many cases keeping them from completing their education. On top of this, students pay high interest rates on their loans; this amounts to a penalty for lower-income students who are unable to afford tuition costs up front. 

So what is the alternative? It would only cost $2.5 billion annually to eliminate tuition fees; $170 per household per year in income tax. Only $1.5 billion would reduce tuition fees to their 1992 levels. The unpopular corporate tax cuts of 2009 equal a loss of $1.6 billion in revenue this year; we would go a long way towards making education accessible by simply reversing the tax cut. More funding should also come from the federal government. If taxation rates were at the same level as they were in 2000, the federal government would be collecting $48 billion more in revenues each year; a mere tenth of this lost revenue would be enough to eliminate tuition fees for all attending postsecondary in Canada. As the government finds money for faulty fighter jets and corporate tax cuts, it is clear that cuts to education are not a product of necessity, but of misplaced priorities, and broken treaties.

Free or fully-funded tuition is not a radical or impossible demand; it has already been promised to us, and is fully attainable. The defunding we’ve seen over the last few decades violates human rights as it strips the youth of opportunities provided to previous generations. Instead of placing maximum resources in education, and instead of fulfilling their promise of protected, accessible, and free education, the government continues to cut corporate taxes and social funding. It's time for Canada to get its priorities straight. Students at the Toronto Free Skule, a democratic open-access school which runs every Sunday in Alexandra Park, will continue to find creative ways to draw attention to these pressing issues and build momentum around solutions. Keep your eyes open for more red squares appearing around Toronto - this movement isn’t going anywhere! For more information, contact: Sage.Indigo@gmail.com

Final Update of Schedule For Sunday June 17th In Alexandra Park

12:30-1pm - Gather
1:00-3pm - Human Rights with Josephine Grey or
1:00-2pm - General Assembly Facilitation with Sakura Saunders
2:00-3pm - Plant Identification with Maria Kassan
3:00-5pm - Occupy Democracy with Brent or
                 - First Nations History with Brenda Wastasecoot, teacher at the University of Toronto in Aboriginal Studies
5:00-6pm - Social Hour and Dinner with Everyone
6:00-8pm - Economics with Dix Sandbeck or
                 - Love in Action with Veronica Campbell
8:00-10pm - Equity Studies and Writing with roxy
10:00-12pm - Direct Action Training with Ian


what a wonderful, and jam-packed schedule. can't wait to learn again with you all this Sunday x
p.s. it's father's day, and that means: bring your father to skule day! 

Sunday, June 17th Schedule

This Sunday is our once a month Skule-wide discussion! All day there will a knowledge tree to which you can post ideas, concerns, successes, points of improvement, etc. Therefore, this week's social how will be an even bigger celebration! Also we have two, possibly three amazing new courses - come check them out!

12:30-1pm - Gather
1:00-3pm - Human Rights with Josephine
3:00-5pm - Occupy Democracy with Brent or
                 - First Nations History with Brenda Wastasecoot, teacher at the University of Toronto in Aboriginal Studies

5:00-6pm - Social Hour and Dinner with Everyone
one-hour plant identification walk with Occupy
Gardens. 

6:00-8pm - Economics with Dix or
                 - Love in Action with Veronica: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Love-In-Action/396077967096314
8:00-10pm - Equity Studies and Writing with Roxy
10:00-12pm - Direct Action Training with Ian

Come to the classes that fit with your schedule, come and eat, and hang out. Bring your instruments for between classes jam time, and the social hour. Bring your frisbees, and balls for between class sports. Remember to bring something for the potluck!!!


Also, we are pleased to welcome the Free Skule Drama Club to our school! check them out on twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/Vayyabell or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/freeskulethedramaclub

Week's Schedule and Reminders

Tomorrow (June 5th): 6pm Student Union Meeting at Philosopher's Walk, right in the middle. By 6:45 our meeting will turn mobile, as we walk to join the student protest.

Agenda:

1. Sunday Details

2. Course Report Backs

3. New Courses and Student Strike

4. OUTREACH!!!!!!!!!

8pm Students and Workers' Unite! OSMC hosts a march to spread the student strike starting at George Brown College (George St. and King St. E.)

Wednesday, June 6th: 8pm Casseroles Night Starting at Dufferin Grove - bring your pots and pans in support of the students!

Sunday June 10th: remember, classes have moved to Alexandra Park! Classes will still be held all day from 1pm through to midnight.

Homework:
Human Rights  - research human rights treaties signed by Canada: the class has chosen to focus on creating a document which explains the student struggle for free and equitable education from a human rights perspective. This is the research faze.

Democracy -  read excerpt from chapter 2 of Real Democracy at circleofdemocracy.org

Equity - we will be taking the next class to discuss self-care and support networks in activism work. Think on which of the following you would like to focus on for the week of the 17th: non-violence, or Canadian immigration

Direct Action - which actions would you like to carry out as a class? What issue do you want to focus on? Research a storyline to your proposed action, and past actions of the same ilk.

Overview of May 27 Classes, and Call-Out For Saturday

A great day of classes yesterday! Thanks to Jo, Ian, and Dix for teaching-learning!
Reminder to the human rights class, you have an assignment: write up a phrase, a few sentences, or a page, applying a human rights framework to issues that affect you / your activism work.

On Saturday, June 2nd, is the really really free market in High Park. We'd love to bring some library books, some flyers, and hold a class or two. We need volunteers, so if you can make it, please contact us - we'd love the help!!!!

A sadder note: apparently free skule is threatening to someone (just as any collective action is threatening to any bully), and our facebook group has mysteriously been taken down. So, we made a facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/TorontoFreeSkule - please like it as another way to stay updated.

peace, love, and learning.
Roxy
course-coordinator @ the free skule

Equity and Writing Assignment Reminder

For the first class, which will start this Sunday 3-5pm, write a short piece (1-2 pages) on the following question:
"who are you in relation to the rest of the world?"

we will share in this question, as well as explore definitions of concepts including: colonialism, neo/post colonialism, imperialism, hegemony, formal equality vs. substantive equity, etc.
first we need to build our language toolbox!

Occupy Democracy Course

Occupy Real Democracy

This is an eight seminar course spanning two hours each. The purpose of the course is to show that Occupy Movement is -- uniquely -- in the real democracy tradition of classical Athens; to provide powerful tools which reveal real democracy -- and expose oligarchy -- so everyone can understand and offer a better future that we can all work for together.

This is not a lecture course. At each session, new political ideas (the “tools”) will be introduced, clarified through question and answer, and applied directly to real world examples in a focussed discussion.

The course is based off a book, The Manifesto of Real Democracy, with readings available on the website. The course follows the arguments of the book, step by step.

See the Course Outline for lesson notes: Occupy Real Democracy

Instructor: Democrates
Website:  http://circleofdemocracy.net

Class begins May 20th at St James Park. See the schedule for tentative class dates and times.

Human Rights Course

Using readings, discussion, and group action, this course seeks to create a deep understanding to empower learners on how human rights are acheived, upheld and/or undermined in Canada, and the importance of a human rights focus in activism and community building work. we will examine history case studies current and potential campaigns for securing basic human rights such as food, housing, water, access to education, living wages etc. 

Teacher: Josephine Grey 

Occupy Economics: The Road to a Fair and Sustainable Economy

Workshop: The Road to a Sustainable and Fair Economy


The current economic system cannot go on, this has been clear for some time: it is morally and technologically bankrupt. But how can we actually change the course?

We invite you to participate in our workshop, where we will discuss and further develop a number of concrete proposals for change of the following aspects of the present socio-economic system.

Some of the areas that will be covered include:

• Banking and Financial Speculation 
• Banking Structures 
• The Function of Cost 
• Energy, Transportation & Housing 
• Political and International Aspects 

Instructor: Dix
Email: contact@occupyeconomics.ca
Website: OccupyEconomics.ca

Course Materials available by the Toronto Free Skule: The Road to a Sustainable Economy

This course will be kicking of May 20th at St. James Park! For more class times and locations please refer to the schedule or email OccupyFreeSkule@gmail.com

Equity Writing Course

Equity Writing by the Free Skule

This is an on-going course - as long as there are learner-teachers, it will continue to be taught.

This is a course to develop your personal understanding of equity issues within and related to Canada, as well as your writing, and presentation skills.

We will spend two weeks on each subject - subjects range from non-violent action, to 'what's the difference between colonialism, neocolonialism, post-colonialism, and imperialism', to missing and murdered indigenous women of Vancouver.

The first class of each topic will include reading excerpts from prominent equity writers such as bell hooks, michael foucault, sherene razack, george dei, gurpreet singh johal, jean swanson, and many more. And discussing them as a group.

Then, each learner-teacher will be asked before the next class to write a personal reflection piece on the subject - incorporating ideas from the readings. We will edit one anothers' pieces, and many re-write them. The extent of the writing process will be determined by the will and want of the learner-teachers.

In every 5th and 6th class (so after 2 subjects), we, as a class, will determine how we would like to spread our knowledge to the rest of the city, and actually do so: do we want to produce a zine? Write out our thoughts in chalk all along the city streets? Write letters to government officials demanding change based on what we know? The possibilities are endless, and I look forward to exploring them with you!

This course is very focused on: WHAT? SO WHAT? NOW WHAT?

Courses offered every Sunday - Refer to the schedule or email for time and location.

Teacher: Roxy Cohen
Email: OccupyFreeSkule@gmail.com

Course Materials: Equity Writing

De-escalation Course on May 20th

De-escalation class is a two hr class that covers a lot of ground.

Have you ever been caught in the middle between two friends bickering? Have you seen co-works worked up over what seems to be nothing?

Then you have probably been in the need for deescalation training. Come to the Free Skule in St. James park to receive this one time free training. Spots are limited so arrive early to get the best training and learn about the free skule concept.

Time Slot: 5-7pm Sunday May 20th.

Teacher: Ian Smart

Course Guidelines and Approval Process

Ok, you caught us...we're pretty lax on our course guidelines. Or rather, we trust that individuals who get involved in the free skule hold the same ideals of education as the skule, and they will strive to re-create these democratic, popular ideals in each of their classes. We also trust the learner-teachers to use their voice, and their feet: if your teacher-learner wants to simply lecture at you for 3 hours, 6 weeks straight, use your voice to tell zim that this is not the way you want to learn! If the teacher-learner persists, bring it to the student union and/or go to a different class.

However, we do have suggestions, guidelines, ideals - whatever you want to call them - that we ask are followed:

• Courses may be taught by 1 teacher-learner, co- or rotating teacher-learners, etc. It is ideal that courses be taught by co-teacher-learners, but not required 
• There is no content-restriction - the students will self-govern the courses by either showing up to learn, or not.
• We ask for action based courses: this means, that we are asking learner-teachers, and teacher-learners to take the knowledge they learn together, and bring it into real world settings. This might mean the human rights class sending in documents to the UN, the philosophy class hosting a speakers corner on the street, the gardening class guerilla gardening, etc. 
• In this, we ask that courses contain minimal lecturing - what minimal means is left up to the teacher-learner to decide. For a history class, it may be necessary to have an hour lecture followed by an hour discussion, but for a writing class, there may be no lecturing necessary at all. 
• We also ask that teacher-learners take 5-15 minutes at the beginning and end of their classes to discuss how everyone in the class is doing. This check-in is a free skule ideal, to be implemented at the teacher-learner/learner-teachers' convenience/desire 

Course Approval: Approval by the student union does not mean whether the course is approved or not, but rather, how we can make it work.

What the student union needs from our teacher-learners before a course can begin:

• A Short Description
• Time-requirements (is it 2 or 3 hours, 1 or 8 weeks)
• If you require a student minimum or maximum
• Resource and space requirements
• A loose, basic lesson plan for Day 1.

Remember...our course co-ordinator is here to help! Send occupyfreeskule@gmail.com an email letting us know what kind of support you need