In their final post to end Bridging Differences' decade-long run, Deborah Meier and Harry Boyte urge readers to put the energy, talents, wisdom, and hard work of "we the people," young as well as old, at the center of creating a 21st-century education system.

Dear colleagues and friends, We're taking a break for several weeks, in preparation for the American Education Research Association Conference and the John Dewey Society (this year I'm doing the Dewey lecture on the topic "Citizen Politics and Democratic Change" Harry Boyte...

We need a model of making school changes based on citizens first, not government first. There are many precedents.

Conservatives are partially right to advocate for less government, says Deborah Meier.

In learning civic skills and taking public action through the citizen politics approach, students, often on the margins, change expectations and challenge school cultures. They also illustrate the power of "a different kind of politics" beyond the Manichean mindset.