Harrisburg Fit Kids: Fill & Download for Free

I agree with Balaji in that a one size fits all is flawed. Democratic Schools where students have a significant say in their educational program have been proven to provide better education than the 1812 Prussian version that the USA, England and India copied, where students sit down at desks and listen quietly to an expert lecturing at the front of the room. Adding some electronics and a required project here and there doesn’t change much—it might improve the dismal quality of teacher/admin/government driven traditional education but it does not at all approach democratic student driven education. Examples of this; The Circle School (Harrisburg PA) [1] , Sudbury Valley School [2]and JCOS = Jefferson County Open School [3] Here is a sample class offered this semester at JCOS; ‘This class is a student run cafe that is open 2 hours a day here at school. Students can choose to be cooks, wait staff, cashiers, marketers, and more!! This year we will be doing a trip to southern Colorado and northern New Mexico to learn how chilies are grown, harvested, and processed.’Don’t worry traditional teachers there is also Algebra, Spanish, German, Biology & etc Except the German Language class is taking a trip to Germany! AND classes are not required for graduation—there are much more stringent requirements than passing a class but students have choice. JCOS is a public school in Denver but most democratic schools are private with sub $10K tuition.Many of these schools are decades old and some 50 years old. I have studied these and all forms of education all over the country for decades and have attended 8 colleges and universities. Questions are more than welcome but knee jerk reactions from people that have been trained to sit down and shut up while taking notes from an expert so they can pass a test will probably fall short—sorry this will take some serious independent, creative, empathetic thinking and research to understand—it is actually very sophisticated.Modern brain research has concluded as a body (not just one study) that the traditional education format does not conform to how the brain learns and is extremely inefficient. This is why so many kids are bored in school—they can feel it. Humans have evolved by solving problems that are relevant to their practical daily lives and personal interests. Sitting a kid or adult down in a classroom most often does not meet these criteria. In a democratic school where kids can choose their projects, classes and activities they will be in mental alignment for learning at a very high rate, achieve more, be MUCH happier and do better in college and will have tried so many things and fields that they often find their path to a satisfying career.Footnotes[1] An independent self-directed democratic private Sudbury-like school for preschool, elementary, and high school aged students.[2] Sudbury Valley School • The View from inside[3] Jefferson County Open School