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Free school allows students to guide their own education
(by Rachel Moehl - December 30, 2007)
When Alexander Khost was growing up, he didn’t like learning about math. "I really feel like so much of my youth was robbed by things I didn’t want to learn," Khost said. But when he was pursuing a master of fine arts degree in design and technology, he needed math skills. It was then, as a graduate student, that he learned the math he needed, while he needed to apply it to education he was passionate about.
Believing that children learn best when they take the initiative to gain information for themselves, Khost founded the Teddy McArdle Free School in Little Falls. Teddy McArdle, a fictional character from the mind of J.D. Salinger, is a 10-year-old brooding genius.
"As a democratic free school, it is our belief that children are naturally curious and innate learners who, when free to make their own choices in a nurturing and supportive environment, will develop all of the traits and knowledge needed for a happy and satisfying life," said Khost.
This "nurturing and supportive" environment exists on the first floor of the United Methodist Church on Main Street. Here, children roam the classrooms and hallways interacting freely with each other.
"There is no mandatory curriculum, classes, testing, or homework in our school and no age segregation," explained Khost.
Instead, the children take turns teaching each other skills and information that they already know or that they themselves are learning independently. Courses like "Cooking," "Singing and Music," "Website Design," "How to Draw a Comic Book" and "Poker" are inclusions in the school’s informal repertoire. "My favorite time to have cooking class is when we make pudding and tacos," said 8-year-old student Lucy.
Students often run barefoot and sometimes shout or slam doors. They call Khost by his first name. However, on Thursday, Dec. 13 they were feeling silly and decided to experiment with the labels "Mommy" and "Daddy." Khost said that many of his students would be diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in a public school setting. He added that this diagnosis simply means "active children that need to apply their education in an active way." The school does not advocate the use of drugs to regulate this level of activity. "We don’t consider that a handicap," Khost said.
"We try to prepare students to realize what they’re interested in," Khost explained. "If they want a math or reading class, then they request a math or reading class." He said that all of his students are at age-appropriate reading levels because they pick up reading and language skills when performing other activities. For instance, when they want to report another child’s misbehavior, they have to write a formal account of the incident and quote witnesses.
Every Wednesday, his 13 students sit down together for a school meeting wherein they revise their list of school rules, a work-in-progress, and discuss learning opportunities for the coming week. When a student violates a rule, he or she is put on trial per se and the violation is evaluated by a judge and jury of the offender’s peers. They call this gathering the "Judicial Committee." When a guilty verdict is declared, the entire school participates in deciding the punishment.
According to Khost, there are more than 200 democratic free schools in the United States, though Teddy McArdle is the only one in the state of New Jersey. It is a non-profit institution charging tuition on a sliding scale based on income. Khost requested a town variance for zoning in order to use the church spaces. The state mandates that school be in session for 180 days, running at least six hours per day. The school is required by law to perform fire drills, and students’ immunization records or a waiver of these records signed by parents must be on file at all times. Other states, like Pennsylvania, require democratic free schools to justify their course offerings with credit values. "It’s much harder in a lot of states," said Khost. "New Jersey is very open."
At this time, Teddy McArdle students are under the age of 13. When they do reach high school graduation age, free school students usually take standardized test (SAT) preparation classes before taking the SAT. They also propose their own graduation deadlines, and then they meet with other students, parents and faculty to prepare for graduation with a skill set geared toward college acceptance and matriculation. "A lot of schools are starting to accept portfolio and interview-based applications," Khost said of universities.
Khost said that many parents come to Teddy McArdle looking for an alternative to public and private education, not because they strongly believe in the concept but because they are frustrated that their child is unhappy in school and doesn’t seem to be learning. "Adam used to get sent home because they didn’t know what to do with him," said Pat Gamsby of her 8-year-old son’s public school experience. Thus, he learned that whenever he was unhappy at school he could throw a temper tantrum and be sent home. Now, when Adam slams a door it goes unnoticed and so he receives no attention or coddling for this dramatic behavior. "It can be a big leap getting your mind around it," Gamsby said of the school’s methods.
Khost believes that the knowledge that sinks in and lasts over the duration of a person’s life is something that is experienced and not force-fed in a strict classroom environment. At 10 a.m. on the 13th, Lucy was getting antsy for her 11 a.m. presentation "Art Class with Lucy" wherein she would be teaching other students to make Christmas tree ornaments. She filled a knit purse with a heavy object and started swinging it around and around, higher and faster with each rotation. "I just want to see if I can twirl this around up to the ceiling," she cried.
Then, as abruptly as it had started swinging, kinesis brought the bag to a halt on Lucy’s calf. "Ouch! I don’t think this is a good thing to swing around," she said quietly, perhaps somewhat embarrassed. In the spirit of the democratic free education, Lucy learned not to swing heavy objects in the air by experiencing a pain in the leg. She’ll probably never swing that purse again.
For more information, visit http://tmcafs.org.
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