The 100th Year Progress Report of the Bio-Regional Resource Center for Public Education

Looking back on the past 100 years lends perspective to the current state of public education and helps us realize just how far we have come from the dark ages of the early part of the century. The first two decades of this century represented a time of crisis and entrenchment in old paradigm thinking. Public schools were pressured to meet state and federally mandated benchmarks for student and teacher performance. These performance standards were fraught with institutional racism and dominant culture assumptions of what knowledge should be taught to mold and indoctrinate students to become productive members of society. !rime drug abuse domestic violence unemployment incarceration depression and suicide were at the highest rates of the "1st century reflecting the failures of social service programs and of public education. #ore than $0% of all public school students were not graduating and had few choices for fulfilling their life dreams other than holding low&paying menial jobs or becoming cannon fodder for futile wars. 'rom "000&"0"0 public schools were huge consolidated institutions that resembled prisons with elaborate security systems and guards at every door and locked classrooms. (y "010 each student wore an embedded subcutaneous barcode that was scanned as they came in and out of school. This security measure ostensibly to protect schools from violent intruders also served another purpose of maintaining order and discipline. )ny disruptive or violent behavior was met with an electric shock by administered by guards administrators and teachers to keep students under control. *tudent and teacher morale was so low that many courses were taught solely by television or computer monitors for lack of teachers willing to teach in those conditions. The misguided public educational philosophy of viewing students as empty receptacles to be force&fed a one&diet&fits&all standardized curriculum was failing miserably causing every child to be left behind. )s a result a huge rift developed and home schools and charter schools multiplied by the thousands. The charter and home schools represented a vast range of ideologies

and pedagogical styles with no unified vision or commonality other than the desire to provide a more individualized learner&oriented educational e+perience. Public schools started closing everywhere for lack of enrollment. These vacant monoliths resembled the anti,uated state mental institutions that were empted at the end of the "0th century when it was deemed more humane to serve the needs of patients in smaller day treatment centers and group homes. The public education system was bankrupt and desperate for new ideas. Policy makers started revisiting the ideas of visionaries such as -iane .avitch who believed that the mission of teaching and learning in the "1st century must be to reach all children and tailor learning more closely to a diversified population of students. /ther visionaries believed we needed to scrap the entire public school concept and develop a learning society of learning people 01ric 2offer3. /thers emphasized that 4the aim of education is to teach us how to think not what to think 5 and stressed influencing policymakers to shift the very premise of how learning takes place. 0(ill (eattie3 This change in public policy and the philosophy of education eventually took place after a long time transition time. ) pivotal event was the election of the first )frican )merican woman President of the 6nites *tates in "0"0. *he was a strong believer in public education reform environmental sustainability bio&regionalism decentralization of resources social justice and a focus on federal funding of domestic programs. 7ith overwhelming support of the )merican people she and her visionary team of reformists began to tackle difficult social and educational issues and she was re&elected for a second term in "0"8. (y the year "0"9 every public school in the country ceased to e+ist. :n its place were created decentralized bio&regional resource centers for public education. These resource centers which still e+ist to this day serve the thousands of satellite charter schools that are uni,ue to the bio&regions and their needs. The resource centers provide libraries technologies e,uipment supplies teacher and staff salaries multicultural field trip funding etc. The public school systems of the past which administered standardized tests with assessment scores that were tied to funding are a relic of the barbaric past. :n this new era every satellite school could assess its students based on their individual progress in fulfilling an individual learning plan that is co& created with the student. The ne+t challenge was to bring all of these satellite schools into a unified vision that had the best interests of the learners in mind. )n agreed upon format was needed to protect the rights

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of students from the abuses of any rogue charter schools that might define their ideology too narrowly use propaganda to indoctrinate students or use abusive methods to impose law and order etc. This task was accomplished by the convening of The First Council for the Protection of Learners Rights in 0 !" This council made up of teachers visionaries policy makers social justice and environmental activists and students was to address the difficult issue of finding commonality among the satellite schools and at the same time allow for individual flavors of philosophy and style. This council used a highly evolved form of dialog and active listening techni,ues based on the ;uaker model. *everal important resolutions were achieved by consensus using this process. They are as follows< 1. Resolution #$ The aim of education is to cultivate the learning potential of every student. ". Resolution ##$ :n order for each student to fulfill their learning potential their psychological and emotional needs must be addressed as well. =. Resolution ###. >nowledge is not a commodity to be disseminated into an empty receptacle. )s *ocrates wisely believed 4teaching is a drawing out of what was already in the student.5 Teaching should open doorways or 4portals5 for students to pursue their own individual learning ,uests. -uring the past ?0 years from "0=0&"100 we have e+perienced a great renaissance of public life&long learning through the refinement of the three resolutions of the council of "0"9. .esolution : lead to the development of :ndividual Learning Plans that are refined throughout the life of the individual. These plans help students pursue their learning ,uests for the highest ,uality of life based on their potential. .esolution :: lead to the formation of a two&fold approach to learning facilitation based on two separate types of professional facilitators< the #entors and the Teachers 0or portal facilitators as they are called3. 1ach student is provided with a #entor who works individually and in a pod of 10 students or less of similar age and interests but with diverse cultural gender spiritual and ethnic backgrounds. The #entors work primarily via internet or T@ with a monthly group face&to&face session. They work with the emotional and social issues that become obstacles to the learning process such as low self&esteem body image depression abuse anger fears conflict resolution and problem solving prejudices +enophobia etc. They also teach =

concepts like values clarification world view cooperation compassion and tolerance for all living things. The teachersA job still addresses these issues as they come up in the classrooms but they can be referred to the #entors for indepth e+ploration. The primarily role of the teacher is to give students the tools for effective communicating thinking reasoning problem solving calculating as well as leadership and human relationship skills to successfully go through the = Portals 0or doorways3 on their life long pursuit of the knowledge they need to fulfill their dreams. This brings us to .esolution ::: which lead to the development of the = Portals which are as follows< The = Portals< :. !ommunication ::. #athematical and *cientific .easoning :::. 2uman and Planetary .elations )ll satellite schools agree to this structure but can use whatever pedagogical styles and ideologies they choose. They all must adhere to the criteria of the three resolutions the #entor and Teacher collaboration and offer the three portals. *tudents are e+posed to all of the three portals in increasing depth for the first B school years. Then for the last = years they can pursue the particular portal they choose in greater concentration. /nce they have walked through the portals of formal preparation for life at graduation they have the tools to ac,uire whatever knowledge they need to fulfill their life long learning ,uests. :n this summary of the past 100 years :Ad like to add a brief description of each of the portals and what doors they open for the life long learners. /f course all of these portals share some overlapCthat is why students are e+posed to all of them for B years. #" Co%%unication$ 1very learner needs to ac,uire the tools of communication. This portal includes individualized plans to facilitate the cultivation of language literacy verbal and written abilities basic artistic and musical skills and basic sign language. )lso communication includes an overview of past and present literature art and music. *tudents that choose this portal as their primary focus become accomplished communicators and are often writers teachers journalists artists musicians publishers film directors etc.

##" &athe%atical and 'cientific Reasoning$ This portal prepares learners to be able to think for themselves discern propaganda calculate mathematically do scientific and social research and to manage money among other things. *tudents who pursue this portal as their primary concentration often become scientists math teachers computer software developers engineers architects investment managers bankers accountants researchers just to name a few. ###" (u%an and Planetar) Relations$ This portal more than any other prepares learners to live harmoniously with others including other animals ecosystems different cultures and nations. The tools ac,uired in this portal include active listening dialoging cooperation group problem solving and consensus tolerance empathy and much more. They learn about sustainability and the =1s of any business bottom line< economical environmental and e,uitable. *tudents who pursue a concentration in this portal often become mentors health care workers social workers counselors environmental and social justice policy makers attorneys politicians animal rights advocates diplomats and ambassadors. C*+CL,'#*+'$ :n conclusion the (io&.egional .esource !enter for Public 1ducation 0*7 region3 is pleased with the progress seen over the past 100 years of facilitating a society of learners. 7e have produced life&long learners who went on to become socially conscious political leaders corporate managers policy makers teachers mentors doctors etc. /ur education system has succeeded in giving each learner the best start in pursuing their life dreams. The lower crime rates lower drug use rates and reduced prison population indicate that we are beginning to solve some of the social problems that plagued the early part of the century. /ur citizens are finding ways to resolve conflicts peacefully cultivate more rewarding relationships and have much greater job satisfaction. 7e as members of the resource center are committed to an ongoing dialog process to continue to work on the comple+ issues facing society and the satellite schools. /ur role is not to interfere with these schools but to serve as council and as a resource center to provide each and every learner with the tools they need to fulfill their life long learning plans and ,uest for knowledge. *o concludes this 100 year report of "100.