We know that being in debt makes it hard to study. At Debt Collective we believe that everyone should be able to study and learn for free. Education can lead to liberation if we collectively learn how to dismantle all the types of oppression that come from living the indebted life, and even shifting that oppression into collective power! That’s why political education is a crucial aspect of our growing movement. It allows us to build strong relationships and develop shared analysis, which is essential to building a debtors’ union! During 2023 our staff and volunteers will lead a series of political education events, named Jubilee School, which is available to our union members and comrades.
Check out all of our upcoming courses here.
Past courses can be found here.
Jubilee School themes will include political analysis on different types of mass indebtedness, racial capitalism, neoliberalism, decolonization, and more. Our work takes inspiration from a variety of sources which are not limited to:
Popular Education:
focuses on breaking down the teacher/student power dynamic and creating educational experiences which are meant to empower folks to tap into their personal and collective capacity to understand and transform their reality. Brazilian educator Paolo Friere is often credited with founding this field but it has long been practiced in social movements without a name (Freedom Schools, Myles Horton & The Highlander School, Ella Baker, etc.)
Critical Pedagogy:
taking inspiration from popular education and critical theory, seeks to find ways of teaching and learning that build critical consciousness for all involved; seeks to understand the logic of oppressive structures and collectively discuss how to challenge them and build alternatives
Movement-Based Pedagogies:
learning from various pedagogies practiced in social movements, from third world and Black feminisms to social movements in Latin America
Decolonizing Knowledge:
as part of a broader project of undoing the harms of colonialism (especially the theft of land), this includes acknowledging, uplifting and incorporating forms of knowledge and ways of being that colonial systems have long ignored, denigrated and attacked
Anti-Oppression Facilitation:
incorporating styles and norms of facilitation that break down barriers to participation/inclusion and challenge the subtle perpetuation of power, privilege and oppression
Somatics and Trauma-Informed Practice:
bringing in tools and techniques that acknowledge the widespread trauma that exists among people living under oppressive systems
Upcoming Events Related
to Jubilee School
College for All Jubilee School: Plutocratic Governance
SPEAKER: Charlie Eaton
Join us as we discuss how billionaires from finance and big tech adopted more oligarchical roles in US politics and higher education with Charlie Eaton, Associate Professor of Sociology at UC Merced and author of the book Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education. Charlie Eaton is an […]
Part of ourCollege for All Jubilee School: Moving Towards Solutions
SPEAKER: Marshall Steinbaum
This session will kick off the second half of our College for All series as we move into a discussion of solutions to the problems we discussed in the first half. Join us as Marshall Steinbaum discusses his paper “Rebuilding American Higher Education: From an Engine of Inequality to a Pillar of the Public Interest.” […]
Part of ourWRITING YOUR DEBT STORY Part 1: A Short-form & Op-Ed Workshop
SPEAKER: Kristin Collier
Author, educator, and Debt Collective fellow Kristin Collier will be offering a two-part writing workshop focused on telling your debt story in short forms such as op-eds. The workshop will be loosely organized around the framework of “seeing red,” the unique, important ways in which borrowers, who live in the red, see the world, and […]
Part of ourCollege for All Jubilee School: Divesting the University from State Violence
SPEAKER: Hannah Appel
College should not only be free, it should be free-ing. In other words, higher education should not incarcerate anyone with either a debt sentence or a prison sentence. And yet, university investments (like endowments and pension funds) profit from state violence–weapons manufacturers, private prisons, surveillance technology, and more. Join us to learn about the University […]
Part of ourWRITING YOUR DEBT STORY Part 2: A Short-form & Op-Ed Workshop
SPEAKER: Kristin Collier
Author, educator, and Debt Collective fellow Kristin Collier will be offering a two-part writing workshop focused on telling your debt story in short forms such as op-eds. The workshop will be loosely organized around the framework of “seeing red,” the unique, important ways in which borrowers, who live in the red, see the world, and […]
Part of ourCollege for All Jubilee School: Funding Free College
SPEAKER: Max Page
This workshop, led by Massachusetts Teachers Association President Max Page, will engage participants in a discussion about how together we can achieve debt-free public college by taxing the very wealthy. We’ll share some of the history of college costs, hear from participants about their efforts, look at some recent wins, and explore resources for making […]
Part of ourCollege for All Jubilee School: University Governing Boards – Autocrats or Puppets?
SPEAKER: Timothy Kaufman-Osborn
Join us as we discuss university governing boards with Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, Professor Emeritus at Whitman College and author of the book The Autocratic Academy: Reenvisioning Rule within America’s Universities and Constance Penley, Professor Emerita at UC Santa Barbara and former President of the Council of University of California Faculty Associations (CUCFA). Whether public or private, U.S. universities […]
Part of ourCollege for All Jubilee School: Democratizing Knowledge Creation Beyond the University
What remains of the utopian promise of the free production and dissemination of knowledge once held by the American university? As the politics of austerity, spiraling tuition fees, privatization, and political repression have ravished our cherished institutions of learning over the last 50 years, the university now resembles more an Althusserian fever-dream than a space […]
Part of ourCollege for All Jubilee School: The Fight for a Free CUNY
On the 50th anniversary of the dismantling of free tuition at the City University of New York, our largest public urban university in the United States continues to be an epicenter for struggles over anticapitalist economic justice, Palestine/anticolonial solidarity and resisting a new Zionist McCarthyism, and labor union and community defense against ICE/policing. We are […]
Part of ourCollege for All Jubilee School: A History of the College for All Fight
SPEAKER: Mark Huelsman
Join us as we discuss a (recent) history of the free college fight and of “College Promise” programs in the U.S. with Michelle Miller-Adams, author of the book The Path to Free College, and Mark Huelsman (bios below). This event will include a discussion of a variety of free college models, research and evidence, and […]
Part of ourCollege for All Jubilee School: How to Win
SPEAKER: Aissa Canchola Bañez
This final session of the College for All Jubilee School series will look forward and discuss how we can win tuition free public college, dignified labor conditions, academic freedom, and debt cancellation. Speakers will include Aissa Canchola Bañez and others to be announced (bios below). Aissa Canchola Bañez is Policy Director at Protect Borrowers, formerly […]
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