Comments on: Utopian Vision: The Village Free School in Portland http://beerandscifi.com/2008/07/utopianvisiovillagefreeschool/ Sat, 20 Feb 2010 01:22:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: ericmsteen http://beerandscifi.com/2008/07/utopianvisiovillagefreeschool/comment-page-1/#comment-92 ericmsteen Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:59:17 +0000 http://beerandscifi.com/?p=111#comment-92 Hello Don Berg and thank you for the information. Within the context of this blog, the term "utopia" is not dismissive, nor do I believe that utopias cannot exist. Rather I am interested in the hope people find in their idealized politics or communities. I merely explore these things in this blog. Perhaps a more suiting title for this entry could have been "Democratic Vision: The Village Free School in Portland"? Hello Don Berg and thank you for the information.

Within the context of this blog, the term “utopia” is not dismissive, nor do I believe that utopias cannot exist. Rather I am interested in the hope people find in their idealized politics or communities. I merely explore these things in this blog.

Perhaps a more suiting title for this entry could have been “Democratic Vision: The Village Free School in Portland”?

]]> By: Don Berg http://beerandscifi.com/2008/07/utopianvisiovillagefreeschool/comment-page-1/#comment-91 Don Berg Wed, 30 Jul 2008 17:15:08 +0000 http://beerandscifi.com/?p=111#comment-91 I am not sure what you mean by "utopian," but when I hear the term used it sometimes indicates a vision that assumed to be based on unrealistic expectations and is usually accompanied by a dismissive tone. While democratic schooling is unusual, it is not utopian in the sense of having expectations that are unrealistic. There are over 70 democratic schools world-wide that have been operating for over 10 years (based on what I could find out from the web) and over 200 altogether according to the Directory of Democratic Education (http://www.edrev.org/directory.html). The oldest still in operation, Fairhope School of Organic Education, was started in 1907 in Alabama. These schools have amply demonstrated that self-directed activity does lead to successful education, including college admissions, real jobs, and most importantly, satisfying lives. (Here's a link to a book about a very thorough study of Sudbury Alumni: http://educationrevolution.stores.yahoo.net/puofha.html) In my series of web articles on Democratic Schooling (http://www.teach-kids-attitude-1st.com/democratic-schooling.html) I took the impressions that are often given as the starting point for examining the disparity between reality and the impressions of it in this context. Perhaps you had a more positive sense of "utopian" in mind, but I wasn't sure. I am not sure what you mean by “utopian,” but when I hear the term used it sometimes indicates a vision that assumed to be based on unrealistic expectations and is usually accompanied by a dismissive tone. While democratic schooling is unusual, it is not utopian in the sense of having expectations that are unrealistic. There are over 70 democratic schools world-wide that have been operating for over 10 years (based on what I could find out from the web) and over 200 altogether according to the Directory of Democratic Education (http://www.edrev.org/directory.html). The oldest still in operation, Fairhope School of Organic Education, was started in 1907 in Alabama. These schools have amply demonstrated that self-directed activity does lead to successful education, including college admissions, real jobs, and most importantly, satisfying lives. (Here’s a link to a book about a very thorough study of Sudbury Alumni: http://educationrevolution.stores.yahoo.net/puofha.html)

In my series of web articles on Democratic Schooling (http://www.teach-kids-attitude-1st.com/democratic-schooling.html) I took the impressions that are often given as the starting point for examining the disparity between reality and the impressions of it in this context.

Perhaps you had a more positive sense of “utopian” in mind, but I wasn’t sure.

]]>