I was browsing through the NY Times and I came across this article "Play-Doh? Calculus? At the Manhattan Free School, Anything Goes". At first it caught my attention because I thought "free school" meant there was no tuition. I was wrong. This "free" school, is free in curriculum. The students are not required to take any specific classes and are encouraged to learn by directing their own education, based on passion.
As a 21st century educator I have mixed feelings about this approach. I do believe, as I hope everyone else reading this does, that children must be interested in what they are learning. However not all children know what interests them. A 8 year old could be interested in music and solely go that route without ever being introduced to anything else. How does she not know she is passionate about history or technology??
It is our jobs as educators to make our students interested. This is where technology comes in. Take a boring civil war lesson and spice it up with some technology or even some personal connections. BAM. There is interest.
Why I think curriculum is beneficial: Elementary school exposes you socially and academically across the board. I think this "freedom" school would work in High School because by then you have prior knowledge to what is out there. You tell me if you know a 2nd grader that has seen it all.
This school only has 30 students, which is probably why it is successful. If the enrollment increases I am sure the chaos will as well. So here is the question, how can we combine federal and state curriculum to freedom learning? Could this combination solve our education problems?
I think this is an extreme opposite to what we have now and i don't think extremes in either way are really the right fit. I would not have know i would be interested in technology when i was young, yes but i knew i would not be interested in history. I do, however, recognize it's important to be aware of history.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this might be a better approach to older learners. I know NYC has a program in place where High Schools can specialize in different occupational fields, and i always found that beneficial for me, but not many students take advantage of that. In other countries at the College/University level they are not forced to take general education classes the way i was. I spent a lot of time and money taking classes that i have no recollection of. At that level should i be the one to decide what i would like to learn? I can understand some English and math requirements but there were many other classes which i could have forgone in order to pursue my Career Goals.