Our current education systems tend to separate learning from the rest of life. It's something that happens at particular ages and in special buildings, away from the rest of society.
Obviously, that's not the whole story - and here at School of Everything, we love hearing about the unusual times and places people are learning things. So thank you to Nick for pointing me towards this awesome story about the Walden Project.
Set up by former high school teacher Matt Schlein, it's an alternative education programme in which a group of teenagers swap their classrooms for 260 acres of north Vermont woodland. For a year, they follow a free-flowing curriculum that takes in environmental studies, current affairs, and a lot of Thoreau:
"The natural world has a way of grabbing you by the lapels out here. The week prior, it was several feet of snow and sub-zero temperatures; now it's a sudden downpour. The students take shelter in the only escape they have from the elements: a rough-hewn tent that features donated sail material. It's just big enough to accommodate the class and a few visitors. Students continue their discussion of politics while rain patters against the sails."
Sounds like my kind of school.
