Democratic schooling may be the most radical experiment in education of the past 100 years.
I'm torn about this, I left public schools at 12 and followed a radical form of homeschooling which is extremely similar to this system. I even had friends that were in schools like these. I gained an amazing liberal arts education, much better than most do in highschool. However I am a technical mind at heart, I love reading philosophy now but my degree in mathematics sucked because of so much that I should have learned in highschool I didn't get. This also leads to huge practical problems in getting into college. While letting kids cultivate their own interests is great, I also feel that kids need to be pushed on subjects they might not pursue individually. This is an area I think on a lot and I can't really say that I have completely come to a decision on how I feel about this. If you're interested in the homeschooling portion look up unschooling. Sorry I'm on my phone, that's why I didn't go looking for links. Feel free to ask questions and I can try to give you my perspective.
I agree. I switched to a semi-structured form of homeschooling in 7th grade because of bullying, and I've had some amazing experiences because of that. I was able to cast a very wide net and pursue what I loved. I've had the chance to be a part of some really interesting and influential things, and I love that I have those experiences. However, I also lost out on many of the fundamentals that would be extremely valuable to me now that I'm in college. I didn't take very much math in high school, but now that I'm pursuing a computer science degree I'm having to put in tons of time to catch up to where I need to be. It's a series of trade offs. I don't know if I'd say I regret my decision to get an alternative education, but I often wonder what would have happened had I chosen a different path.
Quite well! I grew up in Redmond and have been surrounded by computers and computer science for most of my life. I actually love math and logic, so I'm taking to it quite well! It's mostly just dealing with a system that requires me to fill prerequisites.
If you liked this article you might find this one interesting as well. It's about a NYC family who picked up and moved to Russia, where the kids learned in Russian. http://hubski.com/pub?id=19659 Kids learn things regardless of their situation. There was recently an article about kids in Africa learning via tablets, which is mind blowing if you've ever seen the CEO of my company use a computer. I don't know if I would send my kids to this school, but having a different environment and system than the one currently in place can't be all bad. I believe even the weirdest, worst things can offer interesting insights and be applied to make better the schools, or whatever the situation.
Alternative schools are an incredible concept. Their weak point I feel is when students are removed from that awesome environment. My girlfriend is an elementary school teacher and she's told me stories of how difficult a time students have adjusting to public schools once they leave Montessori schools. The alternative schools themselves are phenomenal, they just need to extend to higher grades I feel so that the student can be in that environment of maximized learning for as long as possible.
I like anything that challenges the notion of what education "should" be, and this does just that. This school seems to allow students to directly be a part of all processes, which is great. It should allow them to learn how they work, such as the judicial process, and then question it afterword. Traditional education leaves that out of the mix, to most students. Obviously college and standardized testing is an issue with this system. Another is choosing what to take, the student may take a course you love and do well in it. But surely there are other subjects out there that you're not taking due to a preconceived notion of it, that the student could end up loving, but will never have the opportunity to find out if that's the case.