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I confess, I miss some of the experimental teaching techniques they tried in the late 60's. Education was a surprisingly dynamic field it seems. In the U.S. my
by JKCalhoun 1y ago
I confess, I miss some of the experimental teaching techniques they tried in the late 60's. Education was a surprisingly dynamic field it seems.
In the U.S. my mom moved my sister and I into a new public school for what would have been my 4th grade.
What an odd school it was compared to the previous public schools I had been to. For starters, I was not in 4th grade, I was in Community 5 (I assume that Kindergarten was Community 1, so they decided to toss the zero-based system I was used to.) I seem to recall they had combined 5th and 6th grade into something called Suite 67.
The school itself was circular in construction with a sunken library in the center of the circle — the wedge-shaped classes going radially around the library. (If it sounds like Moon Base from Space 1999, I suspect it's because everyone in the 70's were drinking the same Koolaid.)
Classes were "open". While there were enough students to form two or more classes per grade, er, community, our community did not have a single teacher but a few. So you might have one teacher and learn reading, writing, and then later in the day another teacher would step in for science, math.
I believe the two teachers swapped and would teach the other group in Community 5 — the other group getting Math and Science in the early part of the day, English after.
And it was described as "open" and I believe that to mean that the two Community 5 classes had no physical wall between them. I don't remember though And, yeah, I know, sounds like trying to watch one movie at a drive-in while another screen is showing something else. I believe though there was perhaps some theory involving osmosis or some-such.
I remember clearly, now almost fifty years later, at least two of the science experiments we did in Community 5. They involved experiments with a control group, collecting data (one involving the effects of sunlight on bean plant growth, the other on the temperature preferences of isopods). They had definitely nailed that curriculum.
It was also where I was introduced to the Metric System (that Reagan would shitcan some years later).
When, a few years back, I went back to Overland Park, Kansas to try and find the school I was sad to see that it had been torn down and a standard rectilinear building in its place. No memory from the front desk staff about its wild history.
So sad.
- skavi 1y agoWow, was reading through this with a relatively detached interest and had to reread a few times to overcome the whiplash of you naming the city in which I attended elementary, middle, and high school. If it’s any consolation, the modern Blue Valley school district is still considered excellent [0]. And there are still a few interesting ideas being pursued. The CAPS center [1] had some cool things going on when I graduated in 2018. [0]: https://www.bluevalleyk12.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&ModuleInstanceID=38435&ViewID=7b97f7ed-8e5e-4120-848f-a8b4987d588f&RenderLoc=0&FlexDataID=59104&PageID=34288 https://www.bluevalleyk12.org/site/default.aspx?PageType=3&M... [1]: https://bvcaps.yourcapsnetwork.org/ https://bvcaps.yourcapsnetwork.org/
- JKCalhoun 1y agoHa ha, which schools? I can list Pawnee, Apache, Comanche, Somerset, Meadowbrook and Shawnee Mission East (although the latter ones were in Prairie Village, KS). Yeah, we moved around the 'burbs a bit. Also: another experimental "Free" school in the 1970's for one year was P.A.C.E.R.S. in KCMO, and then a partial year at a Catholic School in KCMO: Saint Francis Xavier, ha ha.
- skavi 1y agoSunrise Point Elementary, Prairie Star Middle, and Blue Valley High. IIRC, SPE is a bit newer. But Blue Valley High has probably been there since the start of the district. btw: just noticed you’re the person who wrote that color picker post. that was a fun read.
- skavi 1y agoWould you mind naming which school replaced the experimental school you described in your original post? Or the name of the experimental school itself?
- JKCalhoun 1y agoComanche Elementary was the experimental school. It is still there, but is not the same round building that I remember. I did find a number of articles about it at Newspapers.com. Around 1971 and 1972 there were a few good articles about the architecture and "Open Classrooms", "Team Teaching", etc. (Kansas City Star, of course.)
- WillAdams 1y agoThere was a similar round school in Farmville, Va. which afforded children within walking distance an education _and_ local college students an easy/convenient student teacher position, which sadly has apparently also been demolished.
- robocat 1y ago> "open" New Zealand has just decided to scrap open plan classrooms: https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/16/no-more-open-plan-school-classrooms-to-be-built-govt/ https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/16/no-more-open-plan-school-... I thought they were a 70s thing but must of had a renaissance of the idea