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From my knowledge of radical education approaches like Summerhill or Ferrer's Modern School, I would agree with that, with one caveat: Students don't have to a

From my knowledge of radical education approaches like Summerhill or Ferrer's Modern School, I would agree with that, with one caveat: Students don't have to attend class. They just have to go to school. They can choose, on a daily basis, what class they want to be in. If they disrupt, they're kicked out of class for the day, since attendance at that class is a voluntary association. To get credit and a grade for a class, you have to complete X homework assignments and pass Y amount of tests. If a kid decides they wants to hang out all day in the cafeteria, good for them. Teachers might want to check in on them and see why or offer books or computer access to do some self-education. You'd also want to diversify the classes if possible. Add classes in video game design, automotive engineering, etc. Make these classes enticing, and hard. Rope the kids in to hard classes by making them seem like blow-offs. But most of all, let the kid choose to learn, and you have a lot more power over the kids who come in just to disrupt. You also have the added social pressure of the other kids, who will recognize that the disruptors don't have to be there and are only ruining it for everyone. Never underestimate the motivating power of boredom.

thebigredjay 16y ago
QFT "Never underestimate the motivating power of boredom."
jrwoodruff 16y ago
I would love to see this concept implemented in an urban setting, under the context of a general education school (rather than a magnate, etc.). While I think it would work for some, I suspect many of these disruptive children probably have major family issues that make it difficult or impossible for them to focus on learning. See: Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It would certainly be a good starting point though. Something must change, and mandatory testing changes nothing.
- eli 16y ago
  The Brooklyn Free School is relatively diverse, no? (Well, as far as anarchist schooling goes, anyway)
mannicken 16y ago
So how is this different from jail? You're forced to be somewhere you hate, unable to go outside, for a part of your life just because you were born?
- michaelchisari 16y ago
  You can't drop out of jail. You can't be home-jailed. At the end of it, you get a degree.
  - ducktype 16y ago
    Probation/parole/bail jumpers House arrest Prison education is pretty common Granted, not everyone can leave jail. But take a boarding school and a minimum security prison and you're getting pretty close to the same thing.
    - michaelchisari 16y ago
      If you drop out of school, you simply don't get a degree. If you jump bail, you get more jail time. And you're reaching to consider house arrest the same as home schooling. As for prison education, that's commonly available, but far from the purpose of prison. And boarding schools are private, there is only one public boarding school in the US, and it only has 80 students. So your analogies don't exactly work. I would suggest reading the work of John Taylor Gatto, A.S. Neil, Francisco Ferrer, and Paulo Freire, though, if you're interested in critiques of education systems and their alternatives.
- ScottBurson 16y ago
  "Schools are jails for kids." -- John Holt
- wisty 16y ago
  Jailers are not very professional, and are allowed to treat you like livestock. Teachers are professionals who are generally trying to help you become a better person (even if a few degenerate in Stanford Prison Experiment style guards, and they are the ones some people really remember).
Debugreality 16y ago
To add to your post I attended a school based on the summer hill philosophy and one of the reasons all the students went to class was because the whole school set up the timetable democratically at the start of each semester. This led to some interesting subjects like yoga and womans rights but it also provided subjects of interest to nearly all the students so there was more desire to attend and learn. An additional bonus of this kind of system is that often subjects like computer games development require some grounding in maths which makes these kinds of abstract subjects more desirable. It was also clear that these core subjects are requirements for further education so there was always enough desire from people wishing to attend university to keep the core subjects going.
stuaxo 16y ago
Oh man... I would have totally failed at this school, I never bothered with homework, just did the tests. Also, some bits where I missed the coursework I was allowed to do extra tests. For now my career has been fine, but if I'd have gone to the school your designing I wouldn't have got into college and would be basically fucked.

thebigredjay 16y ago

QFT "Never underestimate the motivating power of boredom."

jrwoodruff 16y ago

I would love to see this concept implemented in an urban setting, under the context of a general education school (rather than a magnate, etc.). While I think it would work for some, I suspect many of these disruptive children probably have major family issues that make it difficult or impossible for them to focus on learning. See: Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It would certainly be a good starting point though. Something must change, and mandatory testing changes nothing.

eli 16y ago
The Brooklyn Free School is relatively diverse, no? (Well, as far as anarchist schooling goes, anyway)

mannicken 16y ago

So how is this different from jail? You're forced to be somewhere you hate, unable to go outside, for a part of your life just because you were born?

michaelchisari 16y ago
You can't drop out of jail. You can't be home-jailed. At the end of it, you get a degree.
- ducktype 16y ago
  Probation/parole/bail jumpers House arrest Prison education is pretty common Granted, not everyone can leave jail. But take a boarding school and a minimum security prison and you're getting pretty close to the same thing.
  - michaelchisari 16y ago
    If you drop out of school, you simply don't get a degree. If you jump bail, you get more jail time. And you're reaching to consider house arrest the same as home schooling. As for prison education, that's commonly available, but far from the purpose of prison. And boarding schools are private, there is only one public boarding school in the US, and it only has 80 students. So your analogies don't exactly work. I would suggest reading the work of John Taylor Gatto, A.S. Neil, Francisco Ferrer, and Paulo Freire, though, if you're interested in critiques of education systems and their alternatives.
ScottBurson 16y ago
"Schools are jails for kids." -- John Holt
wisty 16y ago
Jailers are not very professional, and are allowed to treat you like livestock. Teachers are professionals who are generally trying to help you become a better person (even if a few degenerate in Stanford Prison Experiment style guards, and they are the ones some people really remember).

Debugreality 16y ago

To add to your post I attended a school based on the summer hill philosophy and one of the reasons all the students went to class was because the whole school set up the timetable democratically at the start of each semester. This led to some interesting subjects like yoga and womans rights but it also provided subjects of interest to nearly all the students so there was more desire to attend and learn. An additional bonus of this kind of system is that often subjects like computer games development require some grounding in maths which makes these kinds of abstract subjects more desirable. It was also clear that these core subjects are requirements for further education so there was always enough desire from people wishing to attend university to keep the core subjects going.

stuaxo 16y ago

Oh man... I would have totally failed at this school, I never bothered with homework, just did the tests. Also, some bits where I missed the coursework I was allowed to do extra tests. For now my career has been fine, but if I'd have gone to the school your designing I wouldn't have got into college and would be basically fucked.