Miss Melanie and Miss Leslie just spent a fantastic week in Portland, Oregon, at a world-wide convention of educators from schools like us! It is always so refreshing to get together with people who view education as much more than adhering to a strict, government sanctioned curriculum and testing.
The highlight of our conference was a talk by Sir Ken Richardson. He reminded us all how public education was patterned after the "factory" model when, at the turn of the 20th century, the focus was on preparing obedient workers who would start and stop mundane tasks when bells or whistles sounded. This model worked well as long as there were plenty of industrial jobs but may not be the best preparation for becoming a productive citizen in today's world.
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Hopefully the above link will enable you to view a synopsis of Sir Ken's talk. If not, please look for him on YouTube.
What we brought home with us is a renewed commitment to preparing children for a world where learning how to solve real problems (not just those printed on worksheets in tidy columns) by using mathematics, taking information from a variety of sources before forming opinions, and working together in a group to complete a project are important skills.
Here at the Organic School we feel that developing higher thinking skills is a requirement, not something relegated to the gifted program. All of our students possess unique gifts and talents and it is our duty to give every student the opportunity to run, draw, paint, sing, dance, write and perform plays, work with clay and ask questions.
We were told last week that there was an Education Revolution in the wings. Ours started in this little town in the fall of 1907. We sure hope it catches on.
Fairhope, Alabama
August 6, 2012
