Recently I observed various alternative schools in Portland neighborhoods in an effort to better understand options and styles for schooling and education. This was part of a class that I TA, led by the art and social practice professor at PSU, Harrell Fletcher. One school particularly stood out to me because of its attempts to facilitate what could be considered utopian ideals – The Village Free School in SE Portland. I am not advocating that what I tell you below is the best educational model, I am merely pointing out a utopian vision in action.

Let me explain this a little better. As told to me by one of the schools’ staff, the school operates on three principles: freedom, democracy, and community. The school emphasizes natural learning and empowerment of the students through a non-coercive curriculum; anything the students learn or do is what they choose to learn or do. If they do not want to learn something, they do not need to. It is thought that generally people grow up wanting to become more of an adult and so they will learn what they need to function in this world. At this school, the children are not forced to learn or study something that they are not interested in learning. This seems to be a large point of contention for those who do not advocate this open system because how can a child be expected to come to terms with “the real world” if they only know to do what they want? Afterall, that’s not the way the world operates; people need to learn the things that will help them do well as they grow older, attend college, and/or enter the work-place. From what I gathered, I don’t think the Village Free School would disagree, but I think they would say that education needs to be a person’s choice and if someone chooses not to learn math, they have the right to do so. The school will be available for the student whenever the student is ready. Allowing the student to learn at his/her own pace will actually help the student retain knowledge and be more genuinely interested in a subject. Plus their point of departure, as far as creativity and learning are concerned, we be on an entirely different level from the student that is forced to learn standardized subjects. Another argument against this open system is that a student might not know the options available to them if they are never presented as they are in public school settings. This is a good question.

I don’t know how I feel about this educational model and I’m not advocating any position. However, the school does offer some facilitation and leadership possibilities that were definitely not available to me when I was in elementary and middle school. All students, parents, staff, and volunteers are part of “The Circle,” a decision-making group that meets on a normal basis, and each person has one vote any time there is a vote concerning budget, school rules, staff hours, and a multitude of other items. That’s right, I did say that elementary students have an equal vote with faculty and parents on these matters. This group also elects “The Council” who are basically a board of directors who hire staff members. I believe that students can be a part of the Council as well.

All-school-meetings are often led or facilitated by students and it is here that students, teachers, and staff come together to help decide the rules of the school. Essentially the students are playing an integral role in the future of the school and in building a democratic structure with those who have more age experience. The leadership, facilititative, and administrative benefits to this are overwhelming as far as a students education is concerned. The rules that get addressed at these meetings are rules such as “can students play with toy swords and guns?” and “should certain explicative language be outlawed at the school?” Those attending the meeting discuss their reasonings for wanting certain rules in place, or for eliminating certain rules and then a vote is taken by the students, faculty, parents, and volunteers. One example that I heard about was the decision to make a few certain words not okay to use at school. After some time, the students wanted to overturn that rule because they felt that having the rule in place was a violation of their freedoms. Instead what they decided was that if a certain word was used that offended someone, that person should tell the one who spoke the word that it was offensive, and they could settle the matter between them. They believed it was better to be able to make the decisions between themselves and to work things out together than to have an imposed rule.

As I was walking through the school I couldn’t help but notice how dirty it was. At the end of the tour, one of the people who helped start the school (I cannot remember his name or his official position) asked if there were any last questions and so I asked about the cleanliness. He said that he is aware of the cleanliness issues and is even embarrassed by it when people want to come and visit. He then went on to remind us of their ideals, and that they will not impose rules onto the students telling them that they must clean up. He said that there has been an increasing awareness by the students that people are coming to visit and are surprised at the lack of cleanliness and that the issue is beginning to pick up some steam. The students are slowly beginning to realize the responsibilities for cleanliness are important. But just because they have a utopian vision does not mean that it will function perfectly. Life is a process and people need to learn through their experiences how to function within a given community.

Some other free schools that were brought up during this tour include the Albany Free School and the original A.S. Neil Summerhill School.