Posted on 03/04/2024 3:13:09 PM PST by algore
At The Clearwater School north of Bothell, the voices of students and staff are equal. One person, one vote — whether it’s a 5-year-old or the school’s founder, Stephanie Sarantos.
The Daily Herald put the school’s direct democracy model into action recently. Before a reporter could come to Clearwater, students debated whether to allow the visit.
Clearwater, founded in 1996, is part of a loose network of about 45 schools following the Sudbury model of direct democracy and student-controlled learning. It’s the only accredited school in the state using the model.
This year, the state Department of Commerce approved a $136,900 grant for Clearwater to explore opening a bilingual preschool based on the alternative education model.
At the weekly meeting, the only mandatory event, Clara rushed through a list of announcements: plans for a pizza party, news about a potential foosball table donation and the talent show that afternoon.
Some students engaged with Clara. Others stared at their screens.
Tuition is $10,300 a year. According to Private School Review, that’s more expensive than the average private school in Snohomish County ($8,532), but cheaper than average tuition in King County private schools ($19,599). Sarantos said many students are on financial aid.
“Having a participatory democracy, where everybody has these long conversations, and you listen to all these different perspectives, in some ways, it feels tiring and inefficient,” she said. “But in other ways, I think it’s really efficient. Because eventually, everybody figures it out. So there’s more buy in.”
Arlo Dolven, 24, attended school his entire life at Clearwater. Last spring, he graduated from Evergreen State College.
After getting his driver’s license and earning a 4.0 GPA in college, he felt “pretty smart.” He still didn’t know the multiplication tables.
(Excerpt) Read more at heraldnet.com ...
Some students engaged with Clara. Others stared at their screens.
No Grades, No Majors Because courses are not graded at Evergreen, you won't have a GPA. You aren't awarded any credit for work considered not passing. Your transcript is an in-depth narrative of your college experience, not a number.
. A 1986 review in the American Journal of Education surveyed 69 graduates of the original Massachusetts school. Just over 50% of the participants had a college degree or were enrolled in secondary school. Half of the group said attending Sudbury was a hurdle to higher education. They also said the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
“Last spring, he graduated from Evergreen State College After getting his driver’s license and earning a 4.0 GPA”
evergreen isn’t a real college: it’s babysitting institution that babysits for four years wealthy college-aged children spawned by progressive Marxists ... everyone who pays for four years there gets a 4.0 GPA ...
Future spoiled Progressives.
If you can graduate from college, with a 4.0, when you don’t have basic scholastic skills, that’s a useless education.
I’m very much pro letting the child study what he wishes, as long as he ends the year with mastering his grades curriculum. If a child wants to spend 40 hours, one week, just studying physics, great. As long he also got the rest by year’s end.
He believes a one-size-fits-all model of a traditional school has unreliable results, when it’s “forcing everyone to try and learn stuff that they’re not interested in, and that they’ll forget really quickly,” he said.
On reflection, it is not the methodology or organization of the school it is something else that makes it effective.
A King is a good type of government if you have the right king.
But that’s like saying because the school lunches are unhealthy, we’ll let the students vote on what’s on the menus.
Don’t be surprised if the menus is ever less healthy.
Bot Hell? Imagine a school taught by bots...
No, but that’s irrelevant. A few other people do, and that doesn’t bother me.
Lord of the Flies.
Which is why you don't see police stations/law enforcement in white areas.
Oh wait ...
I’m going on 81 years old and I still occasionally say my times table upon going to sleep. It calms me down and helps me sleep.
Michael Miller, 17, poses for a portrait at Clearwater School on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
*** The article doesn't say if Michael is a boy or a girl. ***
You miss my point. Under the right leadership childeren are guided even in choosing menus.
I am not saying chaos. I am saying leadership. With the right leadership this school could be good.
All comments here are judging methodology and organization. We don’t know what the leadership is.
I always thought Bot Hell was known as Artificial Intelligence.
It’s a freak?
Graduating from Evergreen these days is like saying out loud to the world that one is an open running sore of woke stupidity.
“Evergreen alumni go on to earn a starting salary of $24,900”
So with a degree, about 12 bucks an hour. Less than a working stiff with no degree got over 40 years ago.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.