this past weekend, a number of us got together here in Washington for a marvelous "deep-think", and amongst the many sessions was one on Transforming Education (K-12) led by Alan Klein. He has a question for all you folks on the LIST which follows. I have invited him to join us, but in the event that doesn't happen, I will pass along your comments. Alan Wrote:
I have a question for all Open Spacers that arose from the Phoenix Rising discussions on December 15th. Specifially, we had a session around the question of transforming education (K-12) so that students do not lose their natural ability to self-organize. As Harrison says, Open Space is founded on the notion of "Self-Organizing Systems". Specifically on the notion that ALL systems are self-organizing and that we do damage to them by trying to control them from without. I make the assumption that we all buy into that notion (or at least I am aiming my question at those who do.) - What if schools were formed as consciously self-organizing systems. - What if all participants (parents, staff, and students) were given equal, democratic power and rights within the school? - What if students of all ages were recognized as responsible for their own learning? - What if this meant that there were no mandated classes, tests, or other externally imposed requirements? - What if the only requirement for graduation is to defend (to the entire school community) the thesis that you are ready to take responsibility for yourself in the outside world? There are a few schools that operate in this way aound the US as well as other places on the planet. What is your reaction to this way of organizing education? What concerns arise in you? What excitements arise? What questions occur to you? Thanks, ~Alan Klein If you want to contact him -- the email is a...@klein.net Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, MD 20854 USA phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website www.mindspring.com/~owenhh osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
