From: Alfredo Ponce <taiaualpa@...>
Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 01:05:23 +0000
To: redanahuak@...
Subject: FW: <alfredoponce>Education Revolution e Newsletter


From: "Alternative Education Resource Organization"
<EdRevNews@...>
Reply-To: <12681-feedback-82@...>
Subject: Education Revolution e Newsletter July 26, 2005
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 18:35:23 -0700


Dear Education Revolution e Newsletter Readers:

Tomorrow I leave for the International Democratic Education Conference in
Germany. We’ll make a full report in the next issue of Education
Revolution Magazine. The new issue has been printed and is being sent to us
overnight and will be mailed out to all subscribers on Thursday. If you are
not a subscriber you can subscribe and become an AERO member at the
following link and still get this issue.

www.educationrevolution.org/membership.html

This issue features an imaginary discussion between some of the greatest
educational pioneers, written by Dana Bennis as part of his Masters program.
It also features a report on this year’s AERO Conference 05, A Spectrum of
Alternatives.

We’ve finished working frantically on burning the DVDs of this year’s
conference, 7 of them covering over 25 hours of keynotes and workshops.
Hundreds have already been reserved and are being made at our local video
service, but we can still call in a few more orders if you respond by
replying to this e newsletter now and letting us know the numbers of the
ones you’d like to reserve. We’ll contact you when they’ve been made.

The cost of one DVD is $20 plus postage. The cost of the two-disc
Montessori DVD set is $35 plus postage. Normally the cost of all 7 discs
would be $135 plus postage, but if you want the entire set we are offering
it for only $99 including postage. Keep in mind when deciding what to order
that the DVD sales are one of AEROs fund raising tools.

These are the DVDs to choose from:

1. Jerry Mintz's keynote, the history of AERO and the introduction and
background of the Butterflies Program for Homeless Street and Working
Children, plus the Butterflies documentary itself, with interviews of the
children and staff.

2. Excerpts from Tim Seldins' keynote and package of 6 Montessori workshops
by Tim Seldin and Sharon Caldwell, on two disks for $35.

Disk A:
*Excerpt from Tim Seldin Keynote
*The Montessori Way, Tim Seldin (Why Dr. Montessori's Contributions are More
Important and Relevant Today Than Ever Before)
*Addressing the Criticisms of Montessori, Sharon Caldwell

Disk B:
*Nahoon Monessori, a Democratic School, Sharon Caldwell
*Introduction to the work of Riane Eisler and Loye
*Recruit and Retain your Ideal Enrollment

3. Alfie Kohn Keynote, three provocative hours, followed by discussion of
the talk the next morning.

4. John Gatto talk, Divide and Conquer, How our Enemies Separate us From our
Friends, and MUCH MORE: Four hours of amazing Gatto talk followed by
questions
and answers.

5. Matt Hern Keynote, Possibility in the Face of Probability, followed by
questions and answers.

6. Ann Cook, Principal of Urban Academy, fresh from a victory allowing the
28 consortium schools of NYS to continue portfolio assessment, and a variety
of workshops and
panels, such as:

*School Starters Workshop
*The Spectrum of Alternatives Panel
* the Panel of graduates of alternatives, etc.

Here are a few participant comments aboutv the conference:

-- Thanks so much for a wonderful conference. We could tell you all had
worked so hard to make it a great experience for everyone. We learned a lot
and we were inspired! - MM, Maine

--I learned a lot about Education but much more about myself. Thanks :) -
OR, Pennsylvania

---I thought the conference was very informative. As a new attendee to
alternative and independent education conferences, I was surprised and
impressed by the divergence in alternative education thinking. - BG, New
York

--I was a new attendee and I'm so thankful that I had this opportunity, as a
new father. Of course, my dilemma now is what alternative to "traditional"
schooling I will choose...I look forward to next year's! - MS, New York

--Compared to all other conferences I have been to this was the one I found
the most useful and interesting. - SC, South Africa

--The open workshops allowed for the kind of spontaneous discussions that
felt important and authentic. - GM, Montana

Here’s an independent report from Gordon Vars to his Core Curriculum
readers:

REFLECTIONS ON THE AERO CONFERENCE

"Kohn Challenges, Gatto Captivates Participants at Alternative Education
Conference"

Alfie Kohn challenged conference participants to think deeply about the
long-term goals of education, whether "alternative" or more conventional.
Education must foster both optimum development of each individual child and
promotion of a democratic society. The critical role of adults is both to
"frame the learning" and to "complicate it." Your editor heard echoes of
classic core curriculum philosophy when Kohn urged educators to create an
environment in which children and adults, working cooperatively, challenge
the status quo and wrestle with real problems.
Unfortunately, some "free school" advocates in the audience seemed to view
Kohn's message as a direct attack on them, whereas to others it may have
sounded like little more than warmed-over progressive education. I agree
with Dana Bennis, from Calhoun School, who said this about Kohn's remarks in
an e-mail posted June 29:
What I take from Alfie's comments is that we free and democratic schoolers
must always be aware of the potential extremes of freedom, including pure
freedom (without responsibility) and completely hands-off education (without
adult interaction). Such extremes, I believe, are not part of good free and
democratic schools. . . I see Alfie's comments as . . . important words to
remember in our own practice, to help make sure we do not go over the border
of these extremes.
Your editor considers Kohn to be one of the most eloquent spokespersons for
intelligent, humane education today. Anyone working in the field of
education today should be familiar with his ground-breaking books such as
Punished by Rewards, No Contest, and The Schools Our Children Deserve.
Also visit: www.alfiekohn.org.
AERO conferees also were stirred up by John Taylor Gatto's closing keynote
address. For almost three hours he gave participants a generous random
sample of his "outrageous irreverence and omnipresent cool intelligence,"
(As described by Thomas Moore in the "Foreword" to Gatto's Dumbing Us Down,
p. xiii). His "zingers" were aimed at everything from conventional schooling
("Schooling is not a decisive factor in anyone's life."), stage theories of
human development ("Nobody fits."), capitalism ("Diseased with
overproduction.), etc., etc., etc. Gatto lived up to his reputation as a
controversial speaker, and many AERO conference participants loved every
hour of it! Gatto's books sold out early in the conference. Your editor was
fortunate to obtain the 2005 edition of his Dumbing Us Down, which contains
some of his earlier speeches and essays. (New Society Publishers, Gabriola
Island, BC, Canada.) See also:
www.johntaylorgatto.com.
For days after the AERO conference, the AERO listserve buzzed with comments
on the conference and especially the talks by both these
speakers, often under the subject "Kohn versus Gatto." To say that both
speakers were thought-provoking is an understatement.
While these two talks may have provoked the most discussion, many other
talks, panels, and workshops addressed other important aspects of
alternative education. The "Montessori way" of schooling was examined in
several sessions, including the keynote address by Tim Seldin, President of
the Montessori Foundation, speaking on "What Montessori Has to Contribute to
Progressive Education." (See: www.montessori.org.) "Waldorf Education as a
Healing Art," presented by Keith Reams of Rudolf Steiner College, introduced
participants to another educational alternative with deep roots in the
history of education. (See: waldorfanswers.org.) Even core curriculum had a
modest presence at the AERO conference. Gordon Vars dialogued with
participants and maintained a display of books and other materials available
from NACC. Core curriculum must have seemed very traditional when compared
with some of the ultra-child-centered schools, such as those following the
Summerhill and Sudbury Valley models. This raises an interesting question:
"How radical does an educational approach have to be in order to be
considered an "alternative"?
All-in-all, your editor found the AERO conference a stimulating glimpse into
the multifaceted world of alternatives to conventional schooling. Most of
them operate outside the convention system, which gives them a great deal of
freedom but also demands huge investments in time, energy and other
resources. I was pleased to see how many of those in attendance willingly
were making those sacrifices for the benefit of children and youth.

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We now have over 5000 readers, all people who have contacted AERO directly!
Is there someone you know who would benefit from the information in these
dispatches? Please forward this one to them and have them visit the AERO
Web site at www.educationrevolution.org and sign up for the free
e-newsletter.

Jerry Mintz
Education Revolution E-News
Alternative Education Resource Organization
417 Roslyn Rd
Roslyn Hts, NY 11577, USA
516 621-2195
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Fax: 516 625-3257
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www.EducationRevolution.org


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