25 years - Classroom Law Project

According to the World Values
Survey, a project by social scientists
to measure the values of the world’s
many different cultures, only two
concepts cross almost every cultural
boundary: trust and democracy.
“Education either functions as an
instrument used to facilitate integration
of the younger generation into the logic
of the present system and bring about
conformity — or it becomes the practice
of freedom, the means by which men and
women deal critically and creatively with
reality and discover how to participate in
the transformation of their world.”
—Paulo Freire
I
25
years
t’s a blip. It’s a generation. It’s a career. It’s a
moment.
It’s a start.
Twenty-fi ve years is 13,140,000 minutes
and, to quote the Beatles, even one minute is a
long time. Twenty-fi ve years is time enough for
a fl edgling non-profi t to become the premier
organization of its kind in America. And time
enough to realize how very much more there is
to be done.
Classroom Law Project began its mission as
a non-profi t organization a quarter-century ago,
in a world that was both very different and very
much the same. Then, as now, democracy here
and around the world was a use-it-or-lose-it
proposition. Then, as now, CLP was made up of
dedicated people — educators, members of the
legal community and civic leaders — who share
this belief: The best way to preserve democracy
is to teach democracy. And the best way to teach
democracy — the best way to learn the skills of
active liberty and make freedom a living thing
rather than a talking point or a textbook chapter
— is to effectively and continuously bring
the principles, virtues, civic responsibilities and
everyday mechanics of democracy into the curriculum
of our schools.
As we celebrate our 25th anniversary, thanks
to your commitment and generosity, Classroom
Law Project now involves more students, more
teachers and provides more programs than ever.
And what we do — what you make it possible
for us to do — is needed more than ever. Twenty-fi
ve years, and we’re just getting started.