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I Love School (when it's closed)

The title of this entry is a T-shirt I had when I was about 9 years old.  The "I LOVE SCHOOL" was in big letters, and when you got up close you could read the ending "(when its closed)".  I loved that T-shirt, because it just was so true.

For those struggling with the assignment, I thought I would share a bit of my own personal narrative.  Of course I could give so much more detail, but this is the short version.  Feel free to make yours as long as you like.

Good Schools:  A Personal Narrative

The suburb I grew up in was supposed to have good schools.  However, I can say with certainty that 99% of the content presented in the schooling I experienced did not contribute in a meaningful way to what I believe about who I am, and what I am meant to be in this world.  Rather than helping me understand my place in the world, the schooling I encountered was a zero sum competition. That meant some won, and some lost.  From kindergarten to high school I found myself on the losing end.

I did not have a great childhood.  There was nothing outwardly apparent, but there was a total failure of connection in my household. Growing up in Evanston, a diverse suburb on Chicago's Goldcoast, there was the typical division among class.  Although my school had about a 60-40% white to black ratio, there was a different division beyond skin color.  It had to do with wealth.  Eventually, I grew up feeling like money was the cause of the social problems.  Nothing in my school's curriculum helped me understand this.

I do remember in fourth grade talking about communism, and I said it sounded good to me, at which point the teacher became flustered.  I of course realize why now. I also learned, indirectly, to keep my opinions to myself.

My grades were always dismal, and although I tried hard to "be good", I didn't seem to understand the purpose of school.  I could see that certain kids were "bad", and they were the ones that were loud and ran around.  So I thought I would be "good" and sit quietly.  Beyond that it seems I had no idea what was going on, what I was supposed to be doing, and what the point of this thing called school really was about.

When I entered high school, I discovered that I didn't have to go in to the building.  I could just go up on the train tracks and smoke cigarettes with other social rejects.  I wandered the alleys for about a month before it all caught up with me.  I was sent to a private school, and actually had an interesting taste of progressive education.  There were no bells at this school.  We had classes like art and debate not as electives but as central courses.  I found out later the school was built as a holistic model, inspired by Colonel Parker https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Wayland_Parker  and Alfred North Whitehead https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_North_Whitehead

In those walls, I was finally seen, but because of the high degree of dysfunction in my family, I did not return the following year.  I went back to the public school until the experience once again made me so unbearably unhappy I attempted suicide.  That led to my entry into alternative school.  In fact, that was a far superior place for me.  Although the academics were minimal to none-at-all, the element of competition and needing to prove myself was absent.

I left high school on time, but with a view of myself as stupid and crazy.  

Obviously the story doesn't end there since I wound up with two doctorate degrees from Tier 1 schools.

So I ask myself, "What would it have taken for my schooling to have met me as a person?"  

Perhaps if I could have connected to the students and adults.  

If people allowed me to share my ideas without reproach.  

If I had been allowed to follow my own heart.  

If art and music had been central elements.  

If the pressure and bells had been removed.  

If I had been allowed to roam freely, and come and go as I pleased.  

If I had been able to design my own course.  

There are places today that allow this kind of freedom and self-exploration.  Today my mission is to try to bring awareness to this alternative.


If you haven't already, please watch this.

Prince Ea is a great poet and thinker.  Great to show high school students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PsLRgEYf9E



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