“There are no grades and no hard deadlines, just the pleasure and satisfaction of enriching your own mind.”
“The enthusiasm around personal curriculums and independent learning might reflect modern-day anxieties. Faced with the noise of social media and endless demands on our time and attention, many of us feel as if we’re losing our ability to focus and think clearly.”
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Are the above quotations from Fairhaven’s latest PR blitz? Is this our latest way to explain and promote a Sudbury school? Although they seem to be, these words are taken from a recent CNN article about a compelling trend where people are learning just for the sake of learning and sharing their experiences.
These people may be rediscovering what we’ve known for almost three decades: people learn best when they’re in charge! Intrinsic motivation and natural curiosity are all we as people need to develop problem-solving, critical thinking, and an innate sense of our place in the world. We take comfort in hearing that people are trying to regain (or perhaps develop for the first time) agency over not only what they learn, but also how they choose to spend their time.
Unfortunately, the article referenced at times tries to shape the phenomenon into a compulsory school model, probably because the idea of learning for its own sake remains foreign to most people. Still, we’re pleased to know that our students remain at the forefront of twenty-first century education. We applaud these so-called TikTok scholars, but we say, let’s go many steps further.
After all, we should be in charge of our lives and minds, shouldn’t we? When they graduate from here, both in the workplace and in schools, our students will comfortably steer their own lives, experienced in thinking for themselves, choosing how to spend their time, and in taking responsibility for themselves and their community. Perhaps these intrepid learners profiled by CNN should just enroll for a year at Fairhaven School, so they can experience not only thinking for themselves but also free play and participatory democracy!
Blog post by Mark McCaig, Fairhaven founder and staff member.
