Popular Education Workshops Format
All of our workshops are designed to incorporate the principals
of popular education – also known as experiential learning. Popular
Education is opposite from the "banking" approach to education where the
"teacher" puts the information into the student. We believe that
educational experiences should attend to both the content of what we
present as well as the process or form of the presentation. Learners are
not empty vessels into which we must pour information, but co-creators in
the process of learning. Our role is to provide structure and experiences
with which learners can engage and create meaning.
The Peace & Justice Center asks
for a $125 honorarium for each workshop to help cover the cost of
supplies, staff time, and travel. Invoices can be provided.
General Livable Wage Workshop:
median earnings are stagnant or declining; income inequality is growing;
and there are persistently high levels of poverty according to Phase 8 of
the Vermont Job Gap Study (Dec 2003). In 1999, 61,000 Vermonters
(including 15,000 children) fell below the unrealistically low official
poverty rate. Almost one-third of all those below the poverty rate are in
the workforce. One out of four full-time Vermont workers (26%) earned
less than a livable wage for a single person ($11.58/hr or $24,086/year)
This interactive workshop is designed to give participants a working knowledge of livable
wage figures, definitions, and research about Vermont’s economy and jobs,
i.e. how livable wage figures are calculated, how does livable wage differ
from minimum wage, how many and what jobs pay a livable wage in Vermont.
The workshop will highlight research and analysis found in Phase 8 of the
Vermont Job Gap Study, including new information and statistics on how race and gender disproportionately affects wages and income.
We will end with ways to get involved in current livable wage efforts
around the state and solutions for achieving economic justice for all
the Economy Workshop:
This interactive workshop focuses
on how women are doing in today’s economy. We discuss the real economic
factors that have lead to the shrinking wage gap between men and women,
how gender segments occupations in the workforce, how our current economic
system devalues work in the “care economy,” and how economic public policy
issues relating to poverty and the minimum wage disproportionately affect
women. The workshop will also highlight research and analysis on gender,
income and jobs in Vermont found in Phase 8 of the Vermont Job Gap Study.
We end with ways to get involved in current livable wage efforts relating
to women (especially public school workers) and solutions for achieving
economic justice for all Vermonters.
"Uprooting Classism" Workshop:
In 1999, after almost two
decades of economic growth, the gap between rich and poor in the United
States is as wide as it has ever been. Why? One contributing factor to
growing inequality in this country is classism. Many people call classism
the unspoken –ism because classism is the systemic oppression and
consequent discrimination of people based on wealth. This interactive workshop is designed to give participants a working knowledge of how
wealth is distributed in our country, define classism (social vs.
economic), explore how race and gender compound classism, and discuss the
affects of classism on our society and communities. We will also discuss
an action plan for how each participant can unroot misconceptions,
concepts of status and worth based on jobs/income, and stereotypes around
classism from his or her day-to-day interactions.
Race & the
VT High School Curriculum:
Teaching Economics As If People Mattered
real-world lesson plans on income, wealth, livable wages, the economy, and
what it all means for the typical Vermonter. Curriculum was compiled by
the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign based upon the curriculum, Teaching
Economics as if People Mattered, by Tamara Sober Giecek with United
for a Fair Economy (UFE).
is a sample of some of the lessons topics:
What is Income and Why Do Some People Earn So Much More of It than
Distributing Income: You Be the Judge
Viewing Income Through Gender and Race Lenses
Power Shift Led to Rule Changes
What Can You Do Here in Vermont: Real Policies that Lift the Floor,
Level the Playing Field, and Address the Concentration of Wealth and
LOOKING FOR HQT CREDITS? The Department of
Education has endorsed the training for this curriculum for “Highly
Qualified Teacher” (HQT) credits under the No Child Left Behind Act. Find
more information, to order a copy of the curriculum, contact the
Vermont Livable Wage Campaign, 802-863-2345 x8,