Joshua Hornick and I created North Star (then called Pathfinder) back in 1996, but we were not the first people to think these thoughts. Back in 1977, pioneer thinker Ted Wachtel wrote a blueprint for a different approach to learning called Beyond the Schoolhouse. It turns out great minds think alike! Even better, and coincidentally, Ted’s son Joshua Wachtel became a core staff member at North Star for ten years, and both Ted and Josh remain friends. In fact, Ted Wachtel was one of the enthusiastic advance readers for my book! (Here is his current website page promoting my book: https://www.buildinganewreality.com/series/school-is-optional/
Ted now commits his visionary energy to his project Building a New Reality. This effort has many dimensions to strengthen local communities, and one of the six areas is education. This fall, Ted is hosting a three-part series about education. I will be participating in the third session.
Here is Josh Wachtel’s invitation:
One thing I learned as a teacher is that no school works for every student. Individuals are so different, and they need individual care and attention, which may not be available in every situation. Starting in 2010, I was fortunate to work with teens for nearly a decade at North Star: Self-Directed for Teens in western Massachusetts, where students are encouraged to find their own learning path and are given support to do so without any of the requirements and mandates of school.
I met many young people who had been homeschooling or unschooling for much of their young lives, and others who “dropped out” of school to get a head start on life. I was impressed by how the freedom they experienced helped to strengthen their ability to make their own life choices. Great resourcefulness comes from discovering what you want and feel you need to learn and having the opportunity to put your time toward your own learning goals.
In three upcoming Second Saturday events presented by Building a New Reality, a project started by my father Ted Wachtel to support communities’ abilities to meet their own needs by strengthening relationships and local decision making, I invite you to join me in examining alternatives to compulsory schooling.
I hope to see you there!
Here is Ted’s video description of Building a New Reality: https://youtu.be/522n1Ule-YU