A Little History
There is no question that the most important thing that ever happened to me in my career was The Alternative School Experience. It allowed me, Jack Hinger, and John Blair to discuss the ideas that we later put into action. All three of us were disillusioned with the way most schools treated their students.
As English Department Chairman I got permission to survey the student body about how they felt about their classes and teachers. Armed with this information we pushed on to plan for over a year how this school would be run and what innovations we could introduce in an alternative school setting.
Very early in my teaching career I realized that the system pushed me to either be for the students or against them. I was always outside the box with my teaching ideas and techniques and many times took up positions against other teachers and administrators. I believed that empowering young people to seek more power and control over their education was the only underlying goal for teaching. Obviously, this position was met with strong opposition. Along came Dr. Ray Blank who was a man who believed in young people and treated them fairly and respectfully. I approached him and with his help he helped create the backdrop for the Alternative School to happen in Cinnaminson.
Where anywhere in public school education in the state of New Jersey was there a school where students and their parents hired the staff? Where in public school education did students have a strong say in what the curriculum was? Where in public school education could students teach classes? Where in public school education could students have the responsibility of creating their own schedules, choosing their own courses, and attending school on a schedule much like a college campus where you only had to be at school when you had a scheduled class? I could go on and on. The point is that in 1972 – we meaning the students and teachers with the support of their parents worked together to create a school such as this one to attend. WOW!!! There was a noble experiment going on in Cinnaminson NJ. We, again meaning the teachers, the students and the parents began to put our dreams and belief into action.
We believed that democracy and the democratic education were both founded in faith in the individual, on the belief that he/she not only can but should examine and discuss the problems on his/ her school, his country, and his world.
We believed that education is born out of courage, not fear. An educator must nurture those around them and must not be afraid to stand up for those things he/she believes especially when he/she sees young people being harmed in school and out.
The teachers of the Alternative School had a very different relationship with the students that we were teaching. In particular we tried to create an atmosphere in the school that would be long lasting and would affect people long after they left school. That atmosphere was made up of experiences that they have had and most importantly how they feel about what they did, not only when they were there each day in the Alternative School but the kind of people they are now. This outpouring of joy, e-mails, and support by the students of our up-coming November Re-Union on the website is vivid proof that our work together was well worth it!
I just can’t wait to see the students, all the teachers – Jack, Ray, John, Kyra, Laurie, Franny, Frank, Joe Van Os (if he can make it) Pat Piech, etc… Don’t miss this re-union. It stands to be a blast! People have been working very hard to make this Re-Union extra special. Get your tickets soon if you haven’t already done so. Hope to see you all on the 27th.
Lee Oberparleiter
Beliefs into Action
“I have things I believe in strongly, things I value. Yet none of these beliefs become living reality until I act and interact with other people. Beliefs must be acted upon. And only then do they become real.”
Many of those beliefs became real when I was part of the Alternative School Experience. Indulge me as I list some of those beliefs that the Alternative School Experience allowed me to act on and that I shall forever be grateful to the teachers, the students and the parents, who gave me the most wonderful experience of my life.
I believe that democracy and democratic education are both founded on faith in the individual, and the belief that he/she not only can but should examine and discuss the problems of his/her school, his/her country and his/her world.
I believe that education is an act of love and as such is born out of courage, not fear. An educator must nurture those around him/her and must not be afraid to speak up for those things they believe in when he/she sees young people being harmed.
I believe that an education should provide a person with the critical tools to creativity look at himself, others, and the world around him/her. In addition to being able to read, write, and speak, persons need to be given tools to survive in the world of the future, which means that educators need to know something about the shape of the future. Tools in this sense become attitudes, value processes, knowing how to find, search, question, and deal with unknowns.
I believe that an education should enable a person to become an actor on the world around him/her, rather than being an object acted upon by many forces of the culture in which they live. Persons, in order to feel good about themselves, must be able to do something and do it well. Doing something is not learned by sitting and being imprinted upon by someone or something else. We learn by what we do.
I believe that the atmosphere of a school is a strong factor in the learning process. That atmosphere is usually unseen, except in the most obvious forms of color, shape, texture, etc.; however, the most pervasive atmosphere affect people long after they leave. That unseen atmosphere is made up of what people do and how they feel about what they do in their interactions with one another.
I believe that teachers, students, and parents must support and nurture one another. This means that people have to see and feel form other peoples’ viewpoints. This means that people have to be active listeners to each other's perceptions. This means that people have to hear those things that lie beneath the surface of words, and to understand – sometimes with silence, sometimes with a look of acknowledgement, sometimes with an action. This means ultimately that each person is always trying to reflect back to others their unique and unrepeat able value and worth, the beauty and goodness that is found in every person regardless of age, race background, or intelligence.
I believe that an education should occur in an atmosphere of dialogue. Dialogue in not so much a process, i.e. two people interacting with one another, as it is an attitude. It is an openness towards listening to one another with a respect for what is being said as if it were your own words and as if all things said by another were the most important statement the other could ever make.
I believe that education should be structured, informally perhaps, but none the less structured by the learner and teacher, since those parameters of structure provide the necessary security for real creative activity to take place.
I believe that students should make whatever decisions they can about their own education, for to the extent that they lose the ability or opportunity to make those choices, they will be subject to the choices of others and will not be ready to take their place in the world of responsible men and woman when they get older if they do not practice making decisions and handling responsibilities now. This means that an educator must commit him/herself to helping young people to be agents of their own growth towards self-reliance.
