The Way Democracy is Supposed to Work

Like many preschools, we were always a little short on storage space. We had a separate storage room and a couple of outdoor sheds, but our classroom walls were still lined with a hodgepodge of shelves and cabinets. A few of these pieces of furniture had doors, but most were open shelves which were covered with curtains of butter yellow fabric.

One of the first things children learned about our space was that when the curtain was in place, the items on those shelves were "closed," while when the curtain was removed, that meant "open." Even the youngest children got the system within a couple weeks. Of course, that didn't mean they didn't peek, but after the first couple weeks of school it was exceedingly rare for a child, even a two-year-old, to take the next step of actually playing with what they found there.

I'm always impressed by this level of self-control. After all, they were only curtains, attached with velcro. The shelves were full of attractive items stored at eye-level. No one ever threatened or scolded them about these shelves. During the first few weeks of school, as they are figuring out the boundaries, they are told, "That's closed" or "That's opened," statements of fact about our storage-challenged classroom, said in the way one might say, "That's a window" or "This is a chair." We helped them re-hang any curtains that had been removed in the process. We might then discuss when we should "open" the shelf in question (we usually agreed on tomorrow). And after a couple weeks of experimentation, we all seemed to more or less agree on the system.

There was one curtain, however, that needed new velcro. Indeed, it had needed new velcro for several years. Pretty much anytime someone brushed against it, it fell. It was located on a shelf adjacent to our checkerboard rug, an active place where we regularly engaged in both circle time and a lot of large motor, dramatic, and constructive play. Needless to say, it fell open several times a day. A child could easily be excused for assuming that meant that those blocks were "open," yet they never did.

Almost every time the curtain was knocked down, a child would take it upon themself to re-attach the velcro. No one asked them to do it. No one even suggested it. Yet the moment the curtain fell, someone was on it. Often more than one, and usually without saying a word. Over the years, parents volunteered to repair it with new velcro, but I declined the offer. It was beautiful to me to watch how the children took responsibility for it year after year, often struggling with it, often needing help, but nevertheless making the effort; "closing" the inadvertently "open" shelf, not because it's a rule or because they had been told to do it by an authority figure, but simply because that's the way we do things at Woodland Park. 

Every time I saw it happen it occurs to me that this is the way democracy is supposed to work.

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