Month: July 2011

While studying at the University of Vermont this summer, I went and visited the grave of John Dewey (1859-1952). He was an influential leader of American education and his philosophy of education is still relevant today. He graduated from the University of Vermont and his grave is in the courtyard of the Ira Allen Chapel on campus.

Dewey was one of the first to propose “progressive” education. This means to educate young people to be change agents in a democracy.

“From their inception in the 1830s, state systems of common or public schooling have primarily attempted to achieve cultural uniformity, not diversity, and to educate dutiful, not critical citizens.”

Progressive education promotes a respect for diversity and the development of critical, socially engaged citizens. Dewey in his lifetime saw the decline of small enterprise and community life. This is still true today.

Today, scholars, educators and activists are rediscovering Dewey’s work and exploring its relevance to a “postmodern” age, an age of global capitalism and breathtaking cultural change, and an age in which the ecological health of the planet itself is seriously threatened. We are finding that although Dewey wrote a century ago, his insights into democratic culture and meaningful education suggest hopeful alternatives to the regime of standardization and mechanization that more than ever dominate our schools.

The excerpts above are from the University of Vermont’s page on progressive education. Below is the chapel on the campus.

For Students, Unconventional Ways to Earn Course Credit – NYTimes.com.

There is a NY Times article about how NY schools are getting creative in times of budget cuts in awarding of graduation credits for alternative forms of classes. These include experiential classes offered by non profit organizations, for example a sailing class by the Hudson River Community Sailing Group. The article points out that individual principals at schools can determine what type of course constitutes a credit.

But exactly what qualifies for credit depends on the principals of the city’s 400-plus high schools, though they must follow certain state requirements, like the number of hours logged in class and evidence of student work and progress. And in an era of budget cuts in which both space and staffing are scarce, more and more students are earning some credits in unconventional ways: on Saturdays, in online courses, through independent study and in things like sailing that used to be considered extracurricular.

It is also interesting to see the graduation requirements of NY Schools. Ours are slightly less inclusive, most likely because of the international nature of our school and our transient student population. We have students come to us during their high school years from a variety of school systems, languages, and countries.

By the end of this week, some 51,000 seniors will have graduated from New York’s public high schools, each with a minimum of 44 credits broken down in a formula guidance counselors know like a mantra: eight each in English and social studies; six each in science and math; two each in art and foreign language; four in gym; one in health; seven for electives.

At ISB we are just starting to look into alternative means of earning credits. For students that fail courses or miss due to absences, we offer the University of Missouri Independent Study  courses. We also offered on line Spanish last year, produced by Pamoja Education, which is officially certified by the IBO. We are expanding this by adding Business and Management for 2011-2012.

 

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