Third Meeting (see below for the report)

As the time for our third meeting approached I realized we needed to 

move forward and so sent out this e-mail to our friends...

Dear Friends,  

When I sent out the minutes for the last Alternative Education 

gathering I suggested pencilling in 7th February as the next meeting date. 

In recognition of the value of your time, I would like to postpone the date 

until there is a more substantial agenda. Joel, Martin, Ajay and I will be 

working on a description of a proposed "school" and doing some 

background research on next steps.  I hope to invite you all to gather 

and continue the discussion on this exciting project early in March, 

look out for another e-mail.  Meanwhile, please continue to feed me 

with ideas and suggestions, even a name for the new establishment 

would be helpful. Something that encapsulates the individualised 

attention to each student and the respectful support given to that 

student's leadings and passions, while demanding a high level of 

mastery in some area...  

Paul

Report on our Third Meeting, 7th February, 2010

Our first two meetings gave us a lot to think about and really inspired us to keep moving towards doing something concrete to help the teenagers that will shortly inherit the society we live in.

To that end Joel, Martin, Ajay and I met on the 7^th February and after more conversation on educational matters came up with some goals:

Summer 2015 – an established permanent home;

September 2011 – open with 10 to 20 students meeting in a space yet to be determined;

January 2011 – establish an “office” with website and promotional materials together with a marketing plan;

June 2010 – have a name, mission statement, bye laws and be incorporated as a legal entity.

May 2010 - most important, establish a board of trustees.

A suggested philosophy statement that still needs work might be:

“Learning is natural and individual. We hope to inspire and nurture self-directed learning in a respectful, non-coercive environment.”

Any words of wisdom on any part are welcome but in particular, we could not think of a satisfactory non-negative alternative term for “non-coercive”, which could be construed as a criticism of other schools.... does anyone have any up-beat and positive suggestions?

Another interesting discussion point was the importance of lunch to teenagers and we thought about the need for a kitchen and common dining area in our future space. Making this an integral part of the educational experience could also have the desirable effect of modeling a healthy diet and strengthening the community of learners. (I would recommend a visit to Tinicum Arts and Science to see this in action.)

There is a lot of work to do, it will be stimulating and good fun but it does have a serious purpose. We are extremely lucky to have such good hearted and capable friends interested in moving this project forward.

Please pencil in another meeting on the 6th March where we can explore everyone's ideas about our time-line, philosophy statement and overall vision.

-------

Second Meeting

Before the second meeting I sent out the following e-mail to aid and focus our thinking without having to replicate work that has already been done by others.

Dear Friends,

Below is a rough continuum of schools/communities that Joel and I have looked at, from fairly traditional but with interesting aspects, to radically different providers of high school age citizens with an education resource. If you could spend a few minutes getting a sense of the values and guiding principals behind some or all of these from their websites we can then focus in on ..

1. where on the continuum should we be aiming, and

2. with these schools as models, what values or principles should be guiding us.

www.putneyschool.org

www.tinicumartandscience.org

www.upattinas.org

www.summerhillschool.co.uk

www.newcountryschool.com

www.openconnections.org

www.northstarteens.org

Some areas of importance to think about might be:

voluntary/compulsory attendance, curriculum self/externally directed(?), assessment methods, grades, graduation(?) requirements, ceremony, creating community, adult/student relationships, physical environment ..

Of course this is not at all a complete list and I hope you will feel comfortable suggesting any other interesting schools you might know of or topics that need to be considered before we home in on our guiding principles.

Using the same format as last time we will start off in a big circle and then break into smaller groups to enable maximum discussion be reconvening to report. We will aim to finish at 5:30. In addition, however, I would like to invite those of you who are able to commit another hour or so to stay and begin work on a written statement of values and purpose.

I will remind everyone again closer to the time, but meanwhile please be in touch at any time if anything occurs to you that might be worth sharing.

Happy Holidays!

Paul

------------

Second Meeting on January 10th, 2010

Once again introductions and welcomes while tea and cakes were consumed, followed by...

Baker River School: Report from Betsy and Bruce Bergquist

(Bruce) Description of the school: in the White Mountains of NH; just outside of Wentworth; 20 miles from any amenities; a basic, self-contained, rural educational community; 1977-1983; first year was a planning year, and then operated for five years; 15-24 students; the property had been a farm; 112 acres, including a wood lot, blueberry field; no livestock; didn’t attempt to be self-sustaining; curriculum was built around two principles (to be described by Betsy); staff were young, talented, energetic; were in the process of becoming accredited when they decided they didn’t have the personal or emotional resources to continue; everything was done on a shoestring; if you don’t have the money, you can do it if you have the collective spirit; students were a mixed bag – some totally motivated and some there as a last resort; over the six years discovered whom the school could serve; teachers were interested in being there for just a year or two and then moving on..

(Betsy) The school was a continuation of a home school for one of their children; 6th-8th graders need more experiential than book learning; set up a program in the city of Wooster that included trips, time in the library, etc.; this was a time of restlessness and discontent in their lives; sold everything and then traveled around the U.S. for a year with their son on a vision quest; out of this came the inspiration to start a school; rented the piece of property in Wentworth; we live in an emotional void; we don’t know how to name our experience; wanted to create a community that had an emotional language for young people; also interested in the issues of food and health; the kitchen was the center of the community; everyone did the cooking; cooking is a science that young people need to learn; had a garden, and lots of experiences to connect with the earth; started each year with a 6-day camping trip in the mountains; each year included a six-week expedition to some other part of the U.S.; started with two questions – If education is an ongoing process of preparation for life, then what is required for young people to live a fulfilling life? How can a school impart what is needed? Goals for the curriculum included students’ learning to appreciate themselves and one another, the importance of understanding relationship to the earth; BRS was experiential – lots of trips (D.C., Quaker work camps in Philadelphia)

The structure of the curriculum: Year-long classes in math, foreign language, etc., but also five 7-week project-centered modules in the course of the year that were theme-based; the school library reflected the concerns and consciousness of the day (ecology, environmental issues, population growth, etc.); Follow-up on students? Lots of blogging on the school’s website. Students are now in their ‘40s. At a reunion a few years ago, about 20 showed up (with their babies and toddlers!); when asked what impact the school had on them, the alumni gave good feedback; it seems as if their career paths were strongly influenced by their experience at Baker River School

It’s so exciting that a group of people is working on this; a noble venture; so much of what we hear about as being innovative, at closer investigation turn out not to be.

After this stimulating talk by the Birgquists we brainstormed the following question:

What values should drive education?
What values/competencies does the future require?

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This simple phrase wraps up so much. It’s
globally encompassing. If you start with this, you can elaborate infinitely. Ultimately, this is where it all begins.

Extend the concept of “others” to include the environment, animals, everything...

Prior to this, students need to develop a sense of self-worth in order to respect that sense of self in others, in order to have compassion.

Students need to understand what’s coming at them from our society. There are so many mis-truths, lies, etc. surrounding us. How to interpret the world through these values?

Young people need practical information to help them make their life decisions; kids need do develop financial literacy.

Values need to be taught concretely – not abstractly – in the context of practical, everyday life decisions and actions. Self-determination, accountability, responsibility need to be at the core.

Risk-taking. Knowing how to fail and handle failure. Schools teach that failure is a bad thing.
Thinking within the lines is how you get to Harvard, but that’s not ultimately the route to the most successful life.

The ability to collaborate. (Competition is inevitable. Businesses are in competition with one another. The problem is when competition exists within a community. Academic research = collaborative
competition. Everyone doing their part to be the first to publish.)

In urban education, students need actual training in social norms – shaking hands, courtesy, etc. – as avenues to success.

Learning to be a self-directed learner. Lifelong learning is a goal of many schools, but the structure of the educational experience needs to actually support this.

Mastery of a limited number of skills. Focus on students’ strengths. Throttle what they’re good at, but let slide the areas of difficulty. Basic skills are important, but beyond this one’s talents should dictate how they spend their time.

---------

Once again, much to think about. We pencilled in another meeting time of 7th February, 2010.

Ideas from our first meeting: 13th December, 2009

What is a good education?

Small group discussions resulted in the following..

School should be a place that excites/incites rather than inundates students

A school is its own system, but exists within other systems; can’t operate in a vacuum; students need to engage with education that connects them social and political systems

Project-based, interdisciplinary

Assessment needs to be flexible; peer review is important to engage students in talking with one another about their learning

Student and teacher relationship should be one of partnership

Critical thinking skills should be developed across the disciplines

School needs a values-orientation

Students need to know why they are learning what they are learning, and be able to relate it to their lives and the world

Students need to direct their own education

Theme-based: global/multicultural and/or environmental focus

Preparing students for life – communication skills, social skills, money/practical skills, problem-solving abilities

Helping students find their passions

Hands-on, real work, problem-solving activities, especially outdoors, connected with nature

Nurturing students’ creative use of leisure time

Time to be reflective

SATs should go away

Learning to work on a team

Taking students from where they are; developing students’ awareness of their context

Success redefined

Community

Questions

What is the purpose of education? Jumping through hoops for credentials?

Is it possible to attract parents without a college prep focus?

What is the ideal scale for a school? What is the necessary critical mass?

Important Ideas

The fact that this many people have come together on a rainy Sunday afternoon is a measure of the suffering that is out there. It’s urgent, but at the same time very exciting.

Students learn better when they have down time.

We need to model school on what we want students to become. Across the education industry, people are overworked, underpaid, stressed out.

Anything we’re preparing students for now will be obsolete by the time they get there. How do we educate for this?

If we create a high school in which students follow their passions and create a portfolio of their work, colleges will be interested.

Passing exams is about “training” rather than “education.”

Overview of North Star in Amherst, MA (Joel)

Started by two 8th grade teachers who had become disillusioned with the traditional system

Launched the school with 20 of their students

The goal – to get students out of an environment that wasn’t working for them, for whatever reason

Students are technically home schooled and pay a fee to use the school’s services

Lots of volunteers, courses taught by college students; support for GED

Students are guided in developing individualized programs

Meeting adjourned amidst much discussion, and general desire to continue the exploration process.

Date set for next meeting on January 10th 3:00pm.

-------