Small Schools Coalition Education Blog
Peace Education: Lessons from the Underground
When Baran Yousefi describes her school years in Iran, she speaks softly, as though the story came out of secret rooms. Her teachers had to keep their names off lists. The government might close the school at any time. They couldn’t advertise or put up a website; word...
The World’s Coolest Schools!
Creating learning environments can be a wide-open world, a Grateful Dead improv. Or it can be militarily rigid, maybe for some cause. Some seem highly inefficient by our standards, and yet completely adapted to their native cultures, and those schools can be colorful...
Guarding the Flag with Rogelio
By Friday afternoon last week, the campus flag at The Grauer School was a mess. It was twisted and tangled high on the pole, and I got the call first thing Saturday to try and get it down. I arrived early, still in a wetsuit from the dawn patrol surf session, and...
Real Teachers: The Experts in the Room
I spent thirteen years in universities, across three different universities, spending my bottom dollar in pursuit of one thing: teaching as a craft. Not a diploma. Not prestige. Craft. The art and discipline of teaching and learning — not just standing at the front of...
Embracing Polarization in Education Today: Leadership, Censorship, and the Price of Silence
“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”— Attributed to Plato, The Republic This quote, attributed to Plato in The Republic, famously explores the consequences of disengagement from governance and public life. The...
School Choice: Are You Part of a National Movement?
Many of you reading this column (thank you!) are independent or private school families. And you may be caught in a dilemma you might not have thought much about. You love that you can choose the schooling that suits your family values. You probably even made peace...