positive education for the future
such endeavours, are for each unique school
culture to determine. However, as serious
educators, we ignore these issues at our peril.
The good news and indeed the lighter side
of this work is that it creates a kind of bond
among students, and between teachers and
students that is extraordinary.
How does the magic work? A 2002 graduate
of the Alternative School, Nora Lyons, put it
this way in a local publication: “I don’t think
it is possible to spend a day at the Alternative
School and not hear the word ‘community.’
We are not bound together simply because
of our enrolment in the A-School, but also
by our support for each other. It didn’t take
very long for me to realize what effect the
A-School community would have on my own
personal growth.”
Nora was elected, at age 15, to take a
variety of leadership roles in our school. It is
important to note that she was a somewhat
introverted young woman, not at all a star
student or what educators in the US or UK
might term “a natural leader.” Rather, she
had the courage to speak her mind at public
meetings however awkwardly. Instead of
being met with smirks and eye-rolling, her
remarks, sometimes controversial ones,
were met with admiration both by peers and
faculty. She graduated with a confidence
that was not personality changing but lifechanging. She graduated with a sense of her
own voice and with the realization that her
voice was part of a chorus.
More recently, just this past autumn, I
received an e-mail from the mother of Dana
Karin, the young woman and teacher who
helped start the Peak School. She told
me she was going to visit her daughter in
Colorado and had been asked to speak at an
evening meeting of parents of the students
in this new school. She asked me to reflect
on how their children were likely to benefit
from the kind of education fostered by a
school like Peak and the A-School. Here was
my response:
24
“I’ll offer up what parents, students, and
fellow A-School teachers have told me over
the years:
• our students learn how they learn best,
which means they become their own best
advocates, especially in college and in the
work place
• our students learn how to work with
others, how to build teams, how to play a
multiplicity of roles when part of a group
that needs to solve a problem
• our extroverts learn to listen more
actively; our introverts develop a sense
of obligation to add their voices to
conversation
• our students feel empowered to confront,
politely and constructively, schooling that
does not promote their learning
• our students become more honest about
their own obligations to work hard, think
hard, and take intellectual risks
• our students come to value
unconventional thinking
• parents serve progressive schools by
partnering with