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Voices From the New American Schoolhouse
Fairhaven School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, is one of a growing number of schools modelled after the Sudbury Valley School which has been operating in Massachusetts since 1968. The school is structured around true democratic principles where every student and staff member has a vote in all aspects of the school's operation--from school rules, to budgeting to staff hiring. Filmmaker Danny Mydlack enjoyed unrestricted access over a two-year period to produce Voices From the New American Schoolhouse, a candid and unblinking encounter with kid-powered learning. An extended trailer can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgpuSo-GSfw.Students and Staff of Fairfield SchoolFreedom, Trust and Respect at school...
Peace at home.Fairfield School
65 Highland Avenuewww.fairfieldschool.org
- Fairfield School's blog
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Watching the Fairhaven DVD?
The full length DVD is 75 minutes long. The students and staff of the PR Committee at Fairfield School have talked about showing it at the school or at the Al Whittle Cinema in Wolfville. The movie is beautifully done, with the voices of students talking about their life at Fairhaven. No narration or outside explanation... Any thoughts from others outside our school?<> Mercedes
Wild Animals Know Chaos And Can Adapt....
This very well made and provocative clip about person centered learning is juice for seekers looking for hope in the world.
Imagine having to write a thesis proving your privilege -or right to be an adult in the greater community. How wonderfully thoughtful!
The only dark side may be found in the wild animal metaphor one young man used at the end of the video clip. It suggests a chilling kind of individualistic, fend for yourself, survivalist mentality that works well for certain brilliant people, but may be deadly for those who are intellectually or physically disabled. What kind of altruism will emerge from this culture? Will these free people embrace or avoid those who are intellectually and physically different? Will they adapt feral codes of survival of the fittest? Time will tell.
Chaos clip? Civility!
Yeah, Kimberly, I thought that was an odd quote as well. That's not really what I see at Sudbury model schools. The general principles behind all the laws that students and staff vote on are Freedom to study (or learn through play and Curiousity) what, when and how long you want, Trust, and Respect. We add to that: Would this work if everybody did it? (okay, assuming not all at once!)There's a strong culture of caring about others in the school, backed up by our Judicial Committee. And we have students who do really well at Fairfield who were bullied or told they were learning disabled at public school. In the full lenth movie there's a long bit about Judicial Committee. It's too bad that part wasn't excerpted for the trailer. Yesterday was Staff Elections. Students and staff voted for next year's paid and volunteer staff. I told a 5 year old that she could go out and tell everybody that she voted on *her* voting day! ***Mercedes