Thank You, Whistleblowers!
Our current political drama involving a courageous whistleblower reporting on the President of the United States of America offers a powerful teaching moment for all of us who work with young people. Over the years, we have always encouraged our teen...
An Alumna Update: Laura Gilbert
A happy outcome of publishing my book has been having some older alumni read it and sending along some kind words. One of the first to do so was Laura Gilbert. Laura teased me a bit that her story wasn’t included in the book, and I offered to include her in this blog as an “Alumna Profile.”
“It’s Madness” (College Admissions)
This month I have encountered several close friends and family members going through the throes of the competitive college admissions process. Coincidentally, I also read the book Excellent Sheep: the miseducation of the American elite by William Deresiewicz (2015) that questions the impact of competitive college admissions on the young people involved in that process.
(Not) Back to School
It’s Back to School time, or Not Back to School among many of the people I know. I generally cringe at the jokes made at children’s expense regarding this time, but I do have a soft spot for Bill Waterson and Calvin and Hobbes. In fact, I have discovered that some fine soul has created a website of Calvin’s Not Back to School antics!
Some Historical Context for Our Current Vision
I spent the first half of this summer immersed with people working to create alternatives to traditional school at three conferences: Liberated Learners, AERO, and Blake Boles’ Young Professionals. The vision and commitment among these colleagues to change the established system feels revolutionary, and so I spent the past week of vacation reading about a group of people who preceded us by over a century: The Modern School Movement.