Independence School

[blutoski]

I mean,.... Where's the info on how they're preparing these kids to take the SATs? That's the thing foremost in any high schooler's parents' mind. To downplay it is one thing.

I think that's an unjustified assumption. There's clearly a segment of the market that couldn't care less about SATs, and that's the target customer base for these schools.

Just as an example, my sister is a highschool dropout herself. She genuinely does not care whether her kids graduate, much less go to college. She took the kids out of school for three months last year to hang out on the beach in South America. Her opinion is that nobody really learns anything useful in school, so kids are always better off doing something else. If there was a school in her community that said they'd do this sort of thing, she'd be all for it.

 

[dudalb]

We are in the business of de-schooling children and reintroducing them to their environment. The program directly confronts the present beliefs about schooling. We do not rely on a prescribed curriculum.* Neither do we rely on a hierarchy of supervision, nor on a strict code of discipline.

I see they suffer from one of the worst delusions that infests the world of "Alternative Education"" That somehow kids have a innate knowledge of what is "Right" for them, and all that standard education does is get in the way.
I can't tell you how much I despise the people who push this garbage.

 

[TraneWreck]

Is this the school started by Bunny Colvin?

Maybe they can hire Pryzbylewski to bring his experience with troubled kids. Last I heard Lester and McNulty were out of work. I bet they could straighten those kids out.

 

[fuelair]

For those seriously interested in where this comes from and how the prime source operates you really need to check this site, not the school's own: http://www.summerhillschool.co.uk/

This is the grandfather of what you are seeing in Baltimore and is still in operation in England where it started.

 

[dudalb]

If I were choosing a school for my kid's, a school were a kid could have his own definition of sucess would be avoided like a plague, given kids..and grown ups, for that matter...endless capacity to delude themselves.

 

[fuelair]

The last big swing of this generally was the self-esteem movement of a few years ago
( give them nummies for getting their clothes matched today and don't worry that they ran their text through the garbage disposal and killed the family dog last night the same way. Point out the good, leave the not so good alone because the most important thing is their self esteem - which they deserve no matter how they actually perform.)

 

[quixotecoyote]

Yeah, it's nice that turned into a joke fairly quickly.

 

[maddog]

Unless I find a job this month, I'll be joining you. Maybe we can split a refrigerator box.

Not too far from the Independence School is the bridge of Rt. 40 over ML King Blvd. There is a guy who lives under the bridge, on the median on the left side of northbound MLK. You could join him, there. He's pretty well supplied - a couple TVs, usually a mattress and/or couch, sometimes a table. Every couple weeks or so, everything gets cleaned out, but he's always right back. Yes, year round. Somehow, he often has MANY pairs of shoes, and he hangs clothes - on hangers! - on a nearby tree.


LL - sounds like Senor Latte had an "I don't feel like teaching today, I'll take the kids to the library" day; it worked, so he repeated it - and then he got BUSTED!!! Way to go, LL!!!

And I know you don't do it for this purpose, but it still needs to be said:

HURRAY FOR THE LIBRARY LADY!!!!