An op-ed piece in the Bangor Daily News is food for thought, or amusement, depending on your view of education.
April 11, 2008 - Written by Arnold Greenberg who is described as "co-founder and former director of Liberty School, a Democratic learning community in Blue Hill", but with a byline of BDN staff, sounds reasonable by the title, "How about focusing on students instead of money?"
[The newspaper had no quotes around "Democratic learning community" which says a lot there.]
Around the country new approaches to education are being implemented. The Met Big Picture Schools in Providence, where students are spending most of their day working as interns and apprentices, are being replicated nationally. The Hi-Tech schools in California, where students work on projects they have designed, are growing in number. The Project Based Learning Schools created by Edvisions are growing all over the country. Democratic Schools that involve students in all aspects of running the school and determining their goals are also growing.Read the whole thing.
All of these schools have one thing in common — they are giving students the opportunity to pursue educational experiences that are relevant to the students’ interests. Learning is more student-directed than teacher-directed. The role of the teacher has changed to facilitator rather than "talking head."
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TT - The school website states that Liberty School is approved by the State of Maine to receive tuition from towns that do not have their own high school. The school has 7 full-time and 5 part-time faculty and 70 students who receive "credit" or "no credit" grading. For parents concerned about college admission transcripts, the FAQ addresses that. It "presents somewhat more work for college admissions offices but on the other hand offer better information than grades."
They don't offer sports either. "Admittedly, our sports program is limited. This is one of the disadvantages of a small school. We offer or have offered soccer, basketball, and cross country. Our students tend to have their own fitness routines --karate, yoga, jogging, biking, etc. Also, some of our special trips and Minimesters feature physical activities."
Whatever you do, do not miss the Liberty Presentation on the admissions page. We're betting the hairy, bearded, hippie dude is Greenberg. It isn't often you see a school that teaches Swahili, Poetry, Cartooning, Human Sustainability, not to mention, What is the Role of Soccer in World Societies.
Greatschools shows the student population is 53.
