Written in 1967 and sent to John Holt for comment. ‘THE SCHOOL Like most people who have spent their lives in education I do a good deal of thinking about the school I would like to start someday. A chance to start from scratch, to plan and build a school that will go from infancy through college aduis- sion is an exciting experience. I have made and discarded several trial versions of this achool. Thie is the latest and it is only fair to say that there will be changes in this one, too, as ay own thinking and experience evolves. Sone of what I describe has been successfully executed in schools where I have worked. There are several rather basic conditions that the school should meet, in our vay of thinking, and these conditions shape the more detailed and specific plana that follow them. I am able to state most of them, I think, but there may be sone ‘which I feel and act on but of which I am not aware, I list those I can verbalize below, in no particualr order of importance. 1, The school must be self-sustaining financially, yet have active, effective money-raising machinery to acquire endowment, scholarship, and project fund 2. It must meet Georgia and city/county legal standards of health, safety, construction and the like, as well as Georgia and Southeastern standards for school accreditation.=2- 3. It must be organized so that children, parents, teachers, and community are involved in decision making; ultimate educational policy will lie with the faculty. 4. It must attract a broad religious, political and ethnic mixture of students, faculty, and friends. 5. It must have the organizational toughness and flexibility to encourage a wide range of person- ality, behavior, and values in children and adults. 6. It must place its highest value on the responei- bility and dignity of the individual, and on the integrity and worth of his interests end his work. 7. It must do a good job of getting children to learn basic academic skills - reading, writing, numbers, etc. - while respecting his right to proceed at a rate which he 1s capable of, ‘These conditions can be taken as indications of the school's philosophy, without a great deal of elaboration. Our hope is to have an open, easy, casual, and honest environment which stimi- lates work and curiosity, as well as enjoyment. Teachers for the school We hope to build on coumitted teachers. My preference is for hiring key professionals as team leaders, and have them assisted amply by aides, student teachers, interns, mothers, volunteers, older children, and fathers. It scens preferable+ to get teachers you have trained yourself, and working with student teachers and interns should be an effective recruiting device. Gurriculun I tend to divide the sorts of things kide learn and do in echool into six areas, in which the responsibility and re- ‘sponse of the school varies. 1. 4 Skills and information our society effectively requires people to know: reading, writing, counting, time, driving, etc. Basie academic understandings and skille - map Teading, numeration, foreign language, English grammar, conventions of composition, chronology, and the like. This probably includes test- taking as a craft, which ic appears to be. Arts, crafts, and activities not requisite to academic success but of interest to children and adults - pottery, mechanics, carpentry, printing, sculpture, dance, music, nature study, life sciences, sports, gardening, etc. Serious inquiry into subjects of concern to Andividual students, in any of the above aroas or virtually any other -~ this 1s a type of activity that is, I think, fundamentally different from the more casual sort of learning one generally does,-t- 5. Casual inquiry into, or expesure to, a wide range of ideas, subject matter, and experiences through movies, trips, discussion, books, pleys, TV, records, music, art, experiment, demonstra— tion, and so forth. 6. There is another activity which intersects all these areas, which I'd call self-avareness and sensitivity. I'm not sure they can be separated. A major emphasis ‘of the school would be on developing awarenéso of self and other people. =. I£ at least one of our purposes is to teach children ways of looking at themselves, us, their,parents, end society, then it follows that the quality and accuracy of their observation 1s of concern to us. ‘There is also the nute-and-bolts-practical function of keeping track of each child: where he is, what his needs seem to be, what the school can do for him, vhat his problens may be this week or this year, as well as tough-minded and accurate clinical assessment of intelligence factors. Keeping such records 1s central to the success of the children and their growth.