{"id":244,"date":"2009-01-18T15:23:49","date_gmt":"2009-01-18T23:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/?p=244"},"modified":"2009-01-19T12:14:05","modified_gmt":"2009-01-19T20:14:05","slug":"the-dimensions-of-many-paths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.leftyparent.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/18\/the-dimensions-of-many-paths\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dimensions of Many Paths"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>What I have gotten paid to do over the past fifteen years is to be a \u201csystems analyst\u201d, a job that involves understanding all the component parts that make a business process and\/or the information systems (generally computer networks) that support that business process work, and given that, how to improve and enhance those processes and underlying systems. One of the techniques of this trade is to define things in terms of categories, some time-honored and used repeatedly others invented one-time to address a particularly unique situation. So applying this technique to looking at schools, I attempt to define a category \u201cschool type\u201d.
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\nFrom my reading, discussion, and personal experience, I characterize at least three profoundly different types of schools. I generally refer to these types as\u2026
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\n1. Instructional<\/strong> \u2013 like conventional public schools
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\n2. Holistic<\/strong> \u2013 including Montessori, Waldorf and schools based on the educational principles of John Dewey
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\n3. Liberty-based<\/strong> \u2013 including democratic\/free schools like Sudbury Valley
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\nI would guess that at least 99 percent of public schools in our country are Instructional, and an overwhelming majority of private schools are as well. What happens in the learning environment of these schools is generally decided by administrators \u2013 school-based administrators in a single private school, district- or state-based in a public school. The instruction is generally compartmentalized into discrete academic \u201csubjects\u201d, at a minimum \u2013 English, social studies, math and science \u2013 and hopefully others \u2013 art, physical education, foreign language \u2013 to name a few.
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\nMaybe one out of a hundred public schools and a larger but still small percentage of private schools are Holistic. Unlike Instructional schools, what happens in the learning environment is generally decided by teachers, who are specifically trained to teach based on a pedagogy generally originated by the charismatic founder of that particular holistic methodology. Maria Montessori was a worldwide education star. Rudolf Steiner, the Waldorf school founder, was considered by many a genius. John Dewey is often cited as one of the great American minds of the 20th Century. Unlike Instructional schools, the knowledge areas are not compartmentalized but rather woven together into a complex whole that is believed to be more than the sum of its parts. The education goes beyond the academic focus of Instructional schooling to address the \u201cwhole person\u201d.
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\nThe remaining schools, currently much fewer in number than even Holistic schools and virtually all private, are what I call \u201cLiberty-based\u201d. Unlike Instructional or Holistic schools, what happens in the learning environment is generally decided by the students, who are specifically empowered to chart their own educational course as individuals and\/or the schools course as participants in democratic process. The educational approach can be a unique mix of instructional and holistic, based on the student\u2019s own decisions.
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\nThere is a lot more I want to say on this breakdown, but I’m having trouble pulling it out of my head. So for now I’ll just put out there my model of the three basic types for your consideration and feedback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I have gotten paid to do over the past fifteen years is to be a \u201csystems analyst\u201d, a job that involves understanding all the component parts that make a business process and\/or the information systems (generally computer networks) that support that business process work, and given that, how to improve and enhance those processes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[14],"tags":[74,73,75,54],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-ongoing-strategy-for-learning","tag-holistic-school","tag-instructional-school","tag-liberty-based-school","tag-many-educational-paths"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t