Since some of you have expressed an interest in alternative education methods, I thought it might be helpful and informative to share with everyone one of the most radical and innovative ways of conducting “school.” It’s called a free school, and the idea is simple: allow kids to do what they want, and they will learn. I won’t say too much about it, but I’d like to provide a link to an article and a documentary about one of the oldest free schools in the US, located in Albany, NY.
http://www.indypendent.org/2005/06/15/why-the-free-school-rules/ This is the article.
http://aeroeducation.org/2010/10/18/free-to-learn-a-radical-experiment-in-education-video/ This is the documentary (working as of Nov. 2)
I said in one of my previous posts that I would not want to be a teacher because I would be forced to assert my authority over a child. This is not the case in free school: children and adults are equals. I think I could teach without reservations (if you can even call it teaching) in a place like this.
(For those who watch the documentary) What do you find interesting about this school? What seems to work? What doesn’t work? Can you see yourself teaching in a school like this?
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