A few weeks ago I brought in a "This American Life" episode about the Brooklyn Free School (which sounds very like the program at the New Marlborough School) and listened to it with a class of college-level seniors. I looked forward to a rousing discussion about the whole philosophy of giving kids more responsibility for their own education. I thought my students would be receptive to the concept, would find it exciting, and maybe wish they'd had a little taste of that kind of intellectual freedom in their own school careers. Instead they all thought it was a profoundly stupid idea that would never work because no one would do any work unless it was all spelled out and packaged for them. I can't remember when I've felt sadder about a discussion. These kids had no interest at all in self-directed education, and I felt bad for being part of a culture that "built" these guys to be this alienated from learning.
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A few weeks ago I brought in a "This American Life" episode about the Brooklyn Free School (which sounds very like the program at the New Marlborough School) and listened to it with a class of college-level seniors. I looked forward to a rousing discussion about the whole philosophy of giving kids more responsibility for their own education. I thought my students would be receptive to the concept, would find it exciting, and maybe wish they'd had a little taste of that kind of intellectual freedom in their own school careers. Instead they all thought it was a profoundly stupid idea that would never work because no one would do any work unless it was all spelled out and packaged for them.
I can't remember when I've felt sadder about a discussion. These kids had no interest at all in self-directed education, and I felt bad for being part of a culture that "built" these guys to be this alienated from learning.
Depressing.
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