Think Openly

Radical Progressivism believes in open communication and dialogue so that teachers and students can learn from each other in an exchange of ideas.  Debates, assertiveness and are articulation are necessary skills that are often neglected in mainstream educational institutions.  

As students learn to navigate their lives, their schooling should reflect the world around them, and lead them to success.  In our system, students are encouraged to develop their own values and practices to promote social reform.  If students can openly respond to injustice within a democratic organization, then direct communication amongst all community members can be used to address social issues which affect the whole community, such as diversity, race and power.

Can you image a school without walls? In our view openness can also be applied to the spaces and rooms in which students learn.  Design can and should extend beyond instructional methods to include freedom in movement and experience with materials. Below is an example of a school without conventional borders.

  Look at:  a school without walls


In education should we value the process or the end result? Our aim is to have students develop self-reflection and social action, by promoting critical thinking skills and creative problem-solving without over-emphasizing standardized assessments. 

With student-directed, collaborative learning, teachers guide learners and act as mentors who encourage learning from mistakes.  We call them eye-openers and opportunities for learning.  We advocate that standardized testing does not allow students to experiment and learn through trial & error. 

What could  a day look like in the life of a student in non-traditional education? At the  Blue School in New York educators are exploring new ways of organizing the student experience & the school curriculum.

Example of non-traditional day in a non-traditional school (modified from an actual alternative high school program) 

• 8:30 am yoga/meditation mini-class
• 8:45 am group check-in, round-table discussion
• 9am collaborative learning project with 5 other students From Sheep To Sweater Fashion Design Project/ From Cow to Burger FastFood Analysis Project
• Subjects engaged: math, science, geography, art
• 11am  Cooking Group – Lunch Preparation for school
• Subjects engaged – math, science, health & nutrition
• 1:30 pm Group Meeting –Social Justice guest speaker-sweetgrass ceremony
• 2 pm Slam Poetry workshop
• Subjects engaged: English, music, multi-media production
• 3:30pm Discovering the Workplace: co-op placement at Community Centre Gym

Fundamentally, we believe students require individualized and specialized instruction.Our students learn the tools needed for success and have a portfolio of skills to demonstrate. Children are naturally curious and can explore concepts that open their minds to new possibilities, if they are in a creative learning environment.

When we state that we must to think openly, we are also talking about the way we believe information, knowledge and culture must be shared. For this reason, all our work is written under the Creative Commons License. We believe that - especially with the advent of computers and the Internet - knowledge is a good that can be reproduced an infinite number of times, with no additional cost. For that reason, we encourage you to re-use our content. Also, we would like to encourage you to consider dropping your proprietary perspective of content you own, thinking of the benefits that free access to different content can make to learners around the whole world, as well as learners in your community.