Transforming Education

Harrison Owen owenhh at mindspring.com
Mon Dec 17 12:17:54 PST 2001


this past weekend, a number of us got together here in Washington for a
marvelous "deep-think", and amongst the many sessions was one on
Transforming Education (K-12) led by Alan Klein. He has a question for all
you folks on the LIST which follows. I have invited him to join us, but in
the event that doesn't happen, I will pass along your comments. Alan Wrote:

I have a question for all Open Spacers that arose from the Phoenix Rising
discussions on December 15th. Specifially, we had a session around the
question of transforming education (K-12) so that students do not lose
their natural ability to self-organize.
As Harrison says, Open Space is founded on the notion of "Self-Organizing
Systems". Specifically on the notion that ALL systems are self-organizing
and that we do damage to them by trying to control them from without. I
make the assumption that we all buy into that notion (or at least I am
aiming my question at those who do.)
- What if schools were formed as consciously self-organizing systems.
- What if all participants (parents, staff, and students) were given equal,
democratic power and rights within the school?
- What if students of all ages were recognized as responsible for their own
learning?
- What if this meant that there were no mandated classes, tests, or other
externally imposed requirements?
- What if the only requirement for graduation is to defend (to the entire
school community) the thesis that you are ready to take responsibility for
yourself in the outside world?
There are a few schools that operate in this way aound the US as well as
other places on the planet. What is your reaction to this way of organizing
education? What concerns arise in you? What excitements arise? What
questions occur to you?
Thanks,
~Alan Klein

If you want to contact him -- the email is alan at klein.net

Harrison



Harrison Owen
7808 River Falls Drive
Potomac, MD 20854 USA
phone 301-365-2093
Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh

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