*2nd/ Final FREE Exerpt from My Upcoming Book on Customized Learning*

My book Customized Learning:  Putting Students in Charge of Their Own Learning should be published and available later this week.  As promised, I am including, free for my Southbury Patch readership, the entirety of Chapter One.  Enjoy!  I'd appreciate anyone's comments.

Chapter One: FREEDOM!! (Demands Responsibility)


One of the great implications I found myself absorbing as I watched my daughter grow and learn through these and so many other, similar experiences, was that so much Learning was occurring in the absence of a "teacher." Obviously, I was there, and I am, technically, a teacher-- but what I was noticing was that the degree and intensity of her learning didn't depend on any individual teaching her-- it depended on HER. Her interest, her engagement, her patience and perseverance, motivated from within, evaluating herself according to her own inner standard-- which was very high, as I'm convinced it is in most humans, naturally. I would say all humans, and I think that would be, and deep-down is true-- but I think various forms of abuse, trauma, and various diseases, conditions and disorders, can impact an individual's potential, and be more difficult to overcome (although even in these cases-- I think it's far from a coincidence that so many award-winning movies have been made about people like Helen Keller, Ray Charles, even "Rain Man"-- who struggle with handicaps, obstacles, multiple extraordinary difficulties, and STILL show the sort of human strengths and capacity to Learn which we're discussing here).

What I found myself discovering was a match for what I was reading in websites
describing a homeschooling movement called UnSchooling, or LifeLearning, and
also resembled the educational philosophy of A.S. Neill, who many decades ago
established a school in England called Summerhill. Here in America, over 40
years ago, a group of teacher/ parents in Massachusetts established Sudbury
Valley School, which placed a great deal of trust and freedom in the hands of
its students, imposed no curriculum or external evaluation (tests, grades,
"standards") whatsoever-- and put an active, participatory democratic
structure directly into the hands of the students, of all ages, attending the
school. Sudbury Valley School is not-only still around, and thriving, after all
these years-- it has spread, and now there are over thirty schools
internationally which call themselves "Sudbury Schools".

In reading, learning about all these different approaches and alternatives-- all
the while watching closely as my daughter thrived in my own homeschooling
experiment-- I found myself seriously questioning, and doubting, conventional
ideas about how Learning happens best. These conventional notions are
ubiquitous in nearly-all schools, public and private, universities and
(sometimes-- at their best, least of all) graduate schools; notions that put
the Teacher at the center-- a teacher usually thoroughly dictated-to from above
in a firm hierarchy, in terms of What to teach.

Many before me, such as John Taylor Gatto, have written excellent books exposing the historical and ideological origins of today's mass schools. There is much to be said on this topic, and many things we are taught to take for granted about our country's education system are undermined in learning of such origins. However, we won't go deeply into such things in this book. Suffice it to say, and
regardless of any self-interest which was served by the architects of today's
mass-schooling institutions-- they were designed for an Industrial World.
America for decades now has been transitioning out of such a world, into
what we might call the Post-Industrial World. This world is characterized by
computers, information, service industries, innovative small businesses, the
population as "consumer". The Industrial World was characterized by factories, unions, engineering, "company men," the population as "producer/ builder." In factories and patriarchal corporations, people needed to be able to read and write-- and most importantly, to be obedient members of an established hierarchy.

These are the main things still taught in nearly-all conventional schools. And it is why a growing number of perceptive, concerned parents are at the very least  questioning today's schools-- many are choosing alternatives, such as homeschooling, Sudbury Schools, "Free Schools" (based in large part on England's Summerhill School), more familiar alternatives such as Montessori and Waldorf, and expensive private prep schools if they can afford it. Whatever their
attempts to find (and ability to afford) effective alternatives, many parents
find themselves questioning what has been conventional in schooling.

To their credit, many public schools have made great efforts over the years to change and improve from within. Certainly, public schools which can afford it have brought much computer technology into their classrooms-- and great attempts are made to "differentiate intelligences" among students, to bring new
"learning technologies" and curriculum styles into schools-- much of which many teachers struggle to understand, adopt, and implement. Charter Schools are another element of public schooling which is attempting to innovate, to become something Totally Different, to be Effective. There are so many varieties of these now-- some effective, some less-so-- that it's hard to analyze what's working at this early stage.

One thing is sure: to whatever degree any of these schools are even trying to do so-- it's nearly impossible, in a top-down structure, mandated from above to
"achieve standards" and operate from pre-fabricated curricula, to offer any more than superficial Freedom to students.

And there's the rub.

I don't deny the efforts and successes achieved by those attempting valiantly to reform conventional schooling from within-- but however much you move the organs around, feed it different stuff, attempt to change the color of its blood-- the beast has the same skeleton, the same structure-- and the brain is in the same place. Any attempt to alter the beast's brain is off-limits.

In the above metaphor, the brain signifies the top-down nature of all
conventional schooling-- which always places the students themselves at
the BOTTOM. We celebrate schools, or at least wish to, because we
perceive them to be "for" students, our children, the coming
generations(s)... We don't want to consider, or acknowledge, that schools put
children in a situation common to many institutions-- incarceration. Their
actions and expectations, their thoughts and activities are, to the degree
possible, dictated to them from above (directly, from teachers-- but
indirectly, from the entire systemic institution of The School).

Many would balk at this suggestion. Teachers, by the way, are not the core of this
issue. Teachers, and many if not most of those who go into education as a
profession, care about kids, and work hard as unique individuals to
treat their students as unique individuals-- and make great strides to impact
their students personally, improve their lives, substantiate their knowledge.
The best teachers veer from pure curriculum, letting students know who they are
as a person, getting to know each student (to the degree this is possible in
ever-growing class sizes) as a person-- and the learning which takes place in
schools is directly correspondent to the success of this effort, and efforts by
great teachers to make the learning material Relevant to the Students' Lives.

But in the face of these valiant, individual efforts-- the nature and structure of
schools is incarceration and control. Students are expected, and coerced, to do
as they are told. They are told precisely what they are expected to do, to
learn, when, where, from whom, in what order. If they are "ahead" of
the curriculum, this can be stiflingly boring, as many, many can attest. If
they are uninterested, rebel against teacher and school, or struggle to keep up
with what they're "supposed to" be learning, there is a very good
likelihood these days that they will be labeled "problems" and/ or
learning disabled (not that such disabilities don't exist, but many are
convinced that they have become far too routinely diagnosed, and drugs like
Ritalin are pervasive like never before). Students who experience anxiety
taking tests (especially "high-stakes" standardized tests) and
perform poorly on them are also in jeopardy-- and all above categories risk
being placed in "lower track" classes, which make college entry more
difficult, and are hard to escape from once labeled as such. And speaking of
"escape"-- anyone who enjoyed the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off surely
relates to that most basic imprisoning aspect of almost all schools-- they
are institutions designed to inhibit young people from freely existing in the
wider community. Of course, many parents are relieved by the
"free" service this mandatory incarceration affords them-- these
days, most families raising kids MUST have both parents in the workforce-- and
even stay-at-home moms and dads can use a break from childrearing duties, if
only to clean house and shop for groceries, etc. But there is something
suspicious if not openly sinister about mandating a whole age-range amongst our
population to clear the streets, only staying home if sick with a doctor's note
to prove it. If that's not attempting to control the lives and movements and
Freedom of an entire-- innocent of all crimes, mind you-- segment of the
population... Well, if you think it's not, I'll just come out and say You're
Flat Wrong.

And that's a problem. Children are segregated from the larger population,
segregated from one another by age in almost all schools (Sudbury and Free
Schools are an exception), controlled by externally-imposed and mandated
schedules and bells, taught uniform subject-matter which changes little from
one school or region to another, and always as per the dictates of top-down
hierarchy, starting (all the more these days) with Federal, homogenous
"standards."

"Standardized" is an Industrial term. It does not, when applied (honestly) to the notion of learning, evoke images of freely-roaming, inquiring minds, engaged in pursuits which interest and captivate them, challenging previous ideas and testing them (the scientific mentality), growing exponentially and mastering things as it
goes along, as the glorious human mind is definitely capable of doing.
"Standardized" evokes the industrial, factory-produced notions of a
"standardized" (standard-sized) set of tools, so all can be fit together, predictably, usefully... But a "standardized mind" does not evoke images of Einstein (who rebelled in school-- one of his college professors once told him, "You have one fault; one can't tell you anything."), John Lennon (who rebelled a LOT in school), Steve Jobs (who dropped out of university), or so many others one could name. Frank Sinatra famously "Did It My Way"-- I'm not sure how he "did it" in
school, but that song certainly isn't the theme song of most schools in terms
of how it feels to students forced to attend them.

*****

Many would argue-- having been convinced over generations that modern
schooling is the Only Way to Learn-- that if students are given the kind of
Freedom being implied as the opposite of the preceding description... students couldn't learn. Certainly they wouldn't learn what they need to learn! If
given Freedom from schools, Freedom from Standardized curricula, testing,
systems, hierarchy and teachers-- How could they learn!? What
would they learn?! Video games? TV watching? If allowed to "play
hooky" every day... Goodness! What a distressing thought! Right?

That's a way of looking at it...

(And by the way-- I'm not so deluded and unrealistic as to recommend
that we just Set All Children Free, in the sense implied by the Pleasure Isle/ Lord
of the Flies scenario possibly now running through some minds reading the
preceding paragraph. First of all, I totally understand that it is Not a
Possible Scenario, not-least on a purely logistical basis. Public schooling--
existing schooling as a whole-- is a Massive Institution, serving millions of
children in America alone, and obviously could not simply be “shut down” in
favor of any possible alternative. Parents have to work, school is a place they
know their kids will be during the day-- for that reason alone, trying to
change the entire system is logistically untenable.)

So this book is not an attempt to recommend the Impossible-- an
“overthrow” of the current systems of schooling. In that sense, this text is
not unrealistically revolutionary. Revolution is not an option in any case--
every revolution always merely trades-in the previous hierarchy for a new
hierarchy. As The Who put it: “Meet the New Boss/ Same as the Old Boss”-- and
this book is about an approach to learning free of hierarchy-- free of
authority, except within the individual Student.

So, how does it work? How COULD it work? What about the Lord of the Flies, images of Pleasure Isle from Pinocchio-- we all know how that turned out... HEE-HAW!!

There’s now a great deal of compelling real-life evidence out there that
the opportunity of Freedom placed in the hands of students does not lead
directly to chaos (and donkey-transformation). In Sudbury Schools, which are
student-participatory Democracies, a lawbook is created by the students and
faculty together, and enforced daily in a Judicial Committee body made up of
students (of all ages) and faculty. Any student may “write up” any other
student (or faculty) for infractions as minor as littering, and as major as
bodily harm or illegal activities, and the School Meeting (made up of all
students and faculty, meeting weekly) decides the outcome of serious
infractions (up to/ including expulsion) by democratic vote.

With that foundation of community-based, hands-on maintenance of order
and mutual respect modeled directly after the fledgling Democracy and communityTown Hall of America at its inception, as designed by our Founding Fathers-- Sudbury Schools pursue an educational philosophy in which the students have complete freedom (within the bounds of school community law) to engage in whatever activities they choose. Hudson Valley Sudbury School, where I worked on faculty for three school years, is on a property including 67 acres of
forested trails, which the students may explore within the bounds of school
policy and laws.

Sudbury Valley School has an over forty-year history of pursuing this
unique, effective educational model, and has published a small library of books
describing its philosophy, daily life at the school-- and even the college,
career and life-paths of its alumni. Feel free to visit SudVal.com to learn much
more about their school's example.

Another example of freedom-oriented education which works, and doesn't
transform children into donkeys, is a movement of parents choosing to
homeschool their children, not for deeply-religious Christian reasons, but
because they are concerned about precisely the top-down control and lack of
freedom present in near-all schooling today. Frequently self-described as
UnSchooling, or LifeLearning, this growing movement has advantages and
disadvantages. Social opportunities during the school day with other children
can be a challenge to maintain, as most other children are incarcerated in
schools. In cities and communities with relatively large numbers of
homeschoolers, this issue can be addressed effectively through planned
get-togethers, and if a homeschooled youth has friends who do attend school,
they can spend time together after-school and on weekends. Many homeschooling
families report having been able to sign their kids up for local school and
community sports teams, as well.

What works within this educational choice is that students are given the
freedom to choose what learning they pursue, and tend to master what they
learn, frequently learning very rapidly in a given subject due to the interest
and active intent they have in pursuing it. Subjects which stretch over years
in conventional schooling can frequently be mastered by a self-guided
homeschooling student in a matter of weeks. Frequently, these students choose
hands-on pursuits, whether designing their own websites, cooking, gardening,
mechanics, or any number of others-- many of which are very useful in real
life, even professional avenues-- which often receive cursory if any attention
in conventional schooling. Because they are not being told WHAT to do, they
tend to really LEARN what they choose to do. And it's not that they exist
in an isolated bubble. UnSchooling parents tend to make themselves available to
their kids, and often have experience and can mentor them in what they know of
a given pursuit or area of knowledge. Not to mention the obvious-- in this age
of Google and YouTube (and so much else on the internet), SO many things can be learned through searching online for information, knowledge, "how-to." And finally-- if their kid(s) have an interest which the parents don't know how to teach them, a homeschooling family is likely (and available during the workday) to approach a local professional in the field in-question, and arrange some sort of apprenticeship or tutorial. Such direct experience is hard to come by in prescribed, compulsory, "standardized" schooling.

The Freedom given to students in the above-described scenarios, and
similar environments such as Free Schools, and Summerhill School in England--
though it seems frightening to many who have never contemplated such
alternatives to conventional schools and ideas of What Learning Means, what
it is-- compensates vastly for what conventional thinking would perceive
as the likely chaos, and lack of control implied by such learning approaches, inasmuch as it puts real Responsibility directly in the hands of the students themselves.

Many would contend that Responsibility is precisely what conventional schools (attempt to) teach, first and foremost. They might go so far as to say it is what would be missing from the models of education just described. Students are responsible to complete their homework. They are held responsible for their behavior, and sent to the Principal or otherwise disciplined for bad behavior. They are held responsible for attending school every day, for obedience to teachers and other adults, for listening in class and not disrupting it by whispering to the kids around them or playing on their handheld devices during class. They are held responsible via "high-stakes" standardized testing, which tells their teachers, administrators and the government whether or not they have succeeded at learning what they are "supposed to" have learned.

Right?!

Well, it depends on which definition of "responsibility" you choose. One dictionary definition sums it up in a single word, which covers all of the areas described just now from conventional schools:

"Obligation."

That sums it up.

Another definition from the same dictionary (Random House Unabridged
Dictionary), though, gives a very different definition--I would go so far as to suggest nearly the opposite definition:

"On one's own initiative or authority."

One suggests, demands obedience. The student is obliged to attend school, to complete assigned homework, to do the work given, to learn what they are told, to return to the classroom when the bell rings. One has an "obligation" to do something when somebody else has authority over them. They are not learning by engaging with a subject, thought or idea of their own volition or internal motivation-- they are doing as they are told (or rebelling, or "failing").

Now,

"On one's own initiative or authority."

Imagine learning this way. It is ultimately how every human being learns to walk, and speak his or her native tongue (and any other languages introduced during formative years, for that matter).  It is how we learn about the world surrounding
us-- our households, our neighborhood, relations with others, making friends,
playing games, imagining. These things are accomplished "on one's own
initiative and authority"-- and they are miraculous accomplishments, truly
indicative of the vast potential of the human mind, the human organism, to LEARN.

NATURAL human learning is "on one's own initiative or authority." It is a thing to behold. It is available to, inherent within, each of us. When we learn in an environment which celebrates, supports, enables such learning, we learn to have such an attitude to life, and learning, as a whole. We fundamentally Trust our own ability to learn, our vast capacity, hunger and joy in Learning-- nearly anything-- as long as it's "on our own initiative and authority." As parents, isn't this what we most want our children to have, to learn and trust about and within themselves?

When we learn that "Learning" is synonymous with Obedience and
Obligation-- well, the usual argument goes: "That prepares a child to obey
and live up to others' expectations throughout their future-- through higher
education, on the job, and-- if they're lucky enough (or rich enough at the
outset) to become a Manager, CEO or Boss (or Teacher or Principle) someday
themselves-- to expect the same obedience from those working under their Authority.”

But authority has the word "author" in it. Those who learn to trust themselves, who deeply know their own capacity to learn, to inquire, to discover, to dig deeper, to make things, to create things, to imagine them and then see them to fruition-- these people are AUTHORS. Of their own lives. They don't need to please authorities-- although on-average such people have a healthy, natural respect for others. They understand that we all have the same incredible capacity to learn, to imagine, to create. They won't tolerate someone arbitrarily wielding false, bogus and unearned "authority" over them-- but then again, which sort of people do you think tend to be the most successful, substantial, and happy--
those who feel Obligated to be Obedient-- or those who Author their own destiny?

A few quotes from recognizable names, which I believe underlie the theme
and import of this chapter, and of this approach to Learning:

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in need of freedom; without this it goes to wrack and ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty." (Italics added)

-Albert Einstein

Also Einstein:

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." (considering how much the man knew, that's saying a lot).

And significantly, this is also Einstein:

"One had to cram all this stuff into one's mind for the examinations,
whether one liked it or not. This coercion had such a deterring effect on me
that, after I had passed the final examination, I found the consideration of
any scientific problems distasteful to me for an entire year."

And:

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education."

(You could say that our education system might be totally different and distinct (better, less-coercive) than that in which Einstein was raised-- but it would belie the fact that American, systemized education was intentionally modeled directly after the Prussian/ German model in which Einstein attended grammar school (for much background on this (dubious) history, read John Taylor Gatto's writings online, or his book The Underground History of American Education-- and brace yourself)-- if you believe "we've probably improved the system since those bad-old-days"-- ask yourself: which of the models of education described in this chapter most closely resembles the features of ineffective education Einstein is so forcefully denouncing?)

Okay, the following two quotes are NOT Einstein:

"How I hated schools, and what a life of anxiety I lived there. I counted the hours to the end of every term, when I should return home."

"I always like to learn, but I don't always like to be taught."

-both Winston Churchill

"I remember that I was never able to get along at school. I was at the foot of the class."

-Thomas Edison (notice-- these are no slouches)

And finally:

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the
key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I
grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment,
and I told them they didn’t understand life.”

-John Lennon