| Surprise! Ron Miller to Keynote AERO! |
We're very excited to announce that Ron Miller, one of the leading and most frequently cited pioneers in holistic education, is briefly coming out of retirement to be a keynote speaker at the 25th anniversary AERO conference this June. Ron has always been one of AERO's strongest supporters since our inception and served as editor of our magazine, Education Revolution, for many years. Ron Miller was involved with diverse educational alternatives from the mid-1980s until 2010, as a teacher, researcher, activist, editor and author. Miller founded two journals, the Holistic Education Review (later renamed Encounter) and Paths of Learning. Since retiring as an educational researcher and activist, Miller has run a bookstore, literary festival, and adult learning program in Woodstock, Vermont. You can find dozens of articles and a complete list of Miller's books online at www.pathsoflearning.net. Ron Miller's talk will be entitled: 1964-2014: A Half Century Since Freedom Schools and How Children Fail. Miller offers a unique and critical perspective on the history and landscape of alternative education in the United States. Miller's book, Free Schools, Free People, placed democratic, freedom-based schools in an historical context that enabled a more thoughtful and necessary critical analysis of the movement to take place. As schools continue to be founded out of those same theoretical traditions, Miller's work demonstrates the relevancy of learning from these historical roots to create healthier and more successful alternatives. In the same vein, this talk will help alternative educators learn about the significance and relevancy of the 1960s and what has happened since as it relates to their schools and learning environments today.
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NEW Registration Perks
The registration rate for the conference has gone up to $285 and will soon go up to the full rate of $350.
- Register today by making just a $50 deposit for registration or $100 for a group. This will reserve our currently discounted rate of $285 for adults and $200 for students before it goes up.
- If you register now with a deposit, we will again give you free membership if you don't have it so you can get a 10% discount on the balance of your registration and a 10% discount in our bookstore!
- Also for this week, if you're one of the FIRST TEN registrants, we will send you one of the rare copies of the full two-hour keynote talk by Sir Ken Robinson at the 2012 Portland AERO conference (you must pay your balance before receiving the DVD).
- We are still offering the two package deals for registration and dorm room, saving you even more. That rate has not gone up.
If you need to make special financial, group, or volunteer arrangements, email [email protected].
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The Northeast Association of Democratic Education Conference met this weekend from the evening of Friday the 2nd through the morning of Sunday the 4th. The staff, parents and students from at least 10 schools attended. Activities included many workshops as well as activities in nearby parks, wholesome food prepared by the host (and AERO conference keynoter), Brooklyn Free School, general discussions, a talent show, arts and crafts, capture the flag, basketball, open sessions about comparisons of democratic meeting processes, etc.
Originally organized by AERO as a national gathering of democratic schools in the wake of the International Democratic Education Conference it hosted in 2003, the NADEC has continued in recent years as a regional gathering. So there is definitely room for other regional meetings of democratic schools. For example, the EUDEC, the European Democratic Education Community is a spin-off of the IDEC and meets yearly in different parts of Europe. This year it will meet in Copenhagen starting August 4th. Just before there will be a meeting of this year's IDEC in Korea, starting in July.
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| John Holt on Learning All the Time (VIDEO) |
 Click here for a video compilation of quotations from John Holt's book Learning All The Time: How Young Children Learn How to Read, Write, Count, and Investigate the World Without Being Taught in which he argues that learning is as natural as breathing.
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| Do Our Kids Get Off Too Easy? |
by Alfie Kohn, NY Times
THE conventional wisdom these days is that kids come by everything too easily - stickers, praise, A's, trophies. It's outrageous, we're told, that all kids on the field may get a thanks-for-playing token, in contrast to the good old days, when recognition was reserved for the conquering heroes.
Children are said to be indulged and overcelebrated, spared from having to confront the full impact of their inadequacy. There are ringing declarations about the benefits of frustration and the need for grit.
These themes are sounded with numbing regularity, yet those who sound them often adopt a self-congratulatory tone, as if it took extraordinary gumption to say pretty much what everyone else is saying. Indeed, this fundamentally conservative stance on children and parenting has become common even for people who are liberal on other issues.
But seriously, has any child who received a trinket after losing a contest walked away believing that he (or his team) won - or that achievement doesn't matter? Giving trophies to all the kids is a well-meaning and mostly innocuous attempt to appreciate everyone's effort.
Even so, I'm not really making a case for doing so, since it distracts us from rethinking competition itself and the belief that people can succeed only if others fail.
Read more here.
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Important Conference Links
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NEW Map of This Year's Attendees
Where are this year's attendees coming from so far?
Click the map below to find out. Let us know if you need to be added! Many dots stand for multiple people from the same location.
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Do you have a news or resource item you think Education Revolution newsletter readers would find useful? Send it to [email protected].
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Thank you for your ongoing support. With your help, we will make learner-centered alternatives available to everyone!
Sincerely,
Jerry Mintz
Executive Director
Alternative Education Resource Organization
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The Ten Signs You Need to Find a Different Kind of Education for Your Child
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Many parents don't realize that the education world has changed drastically since they were in school. Schools and class sizes used to be smaller, dropout rates lower, in-school violence almost unheard of, and teachers weren't terrified of showing affection to their students, or of discussing moral values. Of course, even then, school was far from perfect, but at least the teachers-and usually the principal-knew every student by name, something that is increasingly rare today.
Because our public school system has deteriorated considerably, many parents, teachers, and individuals have taken it upon themselves to create public and private alternatives to that system; and it is important for parents to know that they now have choices.
So how do you know that it's time to look for another educational approach for your child? Here are some of the signs:
1. Does your child say he or she hates school?
If so, something is probably wrong with the school. Children are natural learners, and when they're young, you can hardly stop them from learning. If your child says they hate school, listen to them.
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News, Resources, & Calendar
