Lighting A Fire – Not Filling A Container

Education.  A word that is easy to be “for” without having to wrestle with the “how” or even the “why”.  The American version of public education starts when a child enters kindergarten or first grade at the age of about five and continues until that child graduates about twelve years later.  Recent data suggests that, in reality, only 60-70% of children in urban districts make it all the way through the system.  The educational system imparts knowledge, teaches the child to read, and establishes a foundational set of facts, skills and abilities.  While few educators would say this out loud, the predominate mode of teaching assumes that the students are containers to be filled – and that the filling needs to be tested routinely to make sure that it is of the right consistency.  Educational institutions operate under the law of compulsory attendance meaning that schools essentially have a monopoly on children’s time.  You have to go to school or tell the district what you are doing as an alternative to school.  But why would a parent choose another system entirely?  Idealism, perhaps.  Or an inability to answer the why questions – why does a child need to read at age 5?  Why do we teach this version of history?  Why is important for every child to know these things?  There are alternatives to the public school system.  Private schools have, of course, been around for a long time.  Many parents that I know in Seattle and Portland opt for the private school route and pay the $12,000-25,000 in annual tuition from elementary school through graduation.  Essentially, they get a brand name version of education compared to the generic version offered for free.  Home schooling actually predates public school.  Advances in technology and a dissatisfaction with public education has moved home schooling from its religious roots to a more mainstream lane in recent years.  YMCAs offer home school gym.  Home school coops are easier to find than they were even five years ago.  But home schooling can also become “school at home” where parents become the gatekeepers of both information and social navigation.  Free Schools are another alternative that outside the private/public school realm in methodology and beyond home schooling in terms of community formation.  The Free School movement is creating places where children are self-directed in their learning.  That sounds wonderfully liberating; it can also be very messy.  I believe the foundations of public education have cracked and that they can no longer support the weight of the culture’s needs and desires.  Is Free School one of the many parts that may form a new educational system – one that is more distributed and adaptable?  That depends on us – the people for whom these schools exist.   

Free School caught our attention because we align pretty well with John Holt’s belief that people have an inherent desire to learn.  We also identify with the notion that education “is not about filling a container but about lighting a fire”.  And so, with some trepidation, we agreed to allow our 17 year old son to drop out of high school and become a free-schooler.  We also took our 5 year old out of traditional kindergarten and introduced him to the free school community.  And so the journey began.  A typical free school day includes a morning meeting where the students and advisers gather to develop the ethos of the community.  There are classes – none are mandatory.  There activities – again, not required.  There is no start time.  There are no bells.  There is no ending time.  Staff are at the school from about 8:00 until 4:00.  The students can be at the school anytime in that range.  There are children of all ages interacting with one another throughout the day.  Advisers connect with their students one on one to develop plans, talk about issues, address behaviors and develop community.  But how do kids learn? 

One student indicated that he wanted to learn to read.  His advisor asked how much time the student was willing to put into learning to read.  The student answered that he didn’t have any time – so, it was pointed out to this young boy that he had an interest in learning to read but was not ready to commit.  ALARMS.  What if kids are not taught to read?  I have read (in Holt and others) that most children will learn to read on their own by their ninth birthday at the latest provided that they are in a nurturing environment.  While we can teach kids to read earlier than that, we do not have to teach them in order for them to figure it out.  Reading is the big one because we have this sense in our culture that people have to start things when they are five years old or they will never develop the expertise needed to become a celebrity.  Great athletes started their sport at age five.  Great musicians taught themselves to play at age five.  Or so the legend goes.  Holt learned to play cello at forty – just to prove that people can learn after five.

But what about other subjects?  Somehow, our five year old figured out the water expands when frozen and that expansion seemed to run counter to his expectations because other things seemed to shrink when frozen.  (Our freezer is part food storage box, part laboratory).  He spends lots of time at school playing.  He has been spotted laying on his back staring into the sky deep in thought.  And he loves going to school.  So learning is happening – but it is interspersed among play, rest and socialization.

Free School is not perfect.  Parents bring all kinds of expectations to the community – and there are some odd interactions among some parents.  Kids curse.  Doing nothing is as accepted as doing something and so it is possible to avoid learning.  And often the kids do not take the ownership that the school affords them through its charter and structure.  I do not know if it will work for us over the long term.  But it has proven to be a refreshing change from the awkward cadence of public schooling.  There is something of resonance here that intrigues me and is worth further investigation and involvement.

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