by Jim Rietmulder | Jun 2, 2013 | Play, Public policy
“Children are biologically predisposed to take charge of their own education.” So says psychologist Peter Gray in his recent new book, Free To Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better...
by Jim Rietmulder | Mar 24, 2013 | Ideas, Public policy
As a teenager in the 1970s, I wanted to be a fifth-grade teacher—an impulse that remains today, perhaps because I still love and listen to my inner nine-year-old. I studied interesting schools back then (still do), and traveled to visit several while still in high...
by Jim Rietmulder | Feb 20, 2013 | Daily life
Last night our judicial team demonstrated for the school community how the wheels of justice go ’round at The Circle School. Simulating what we do every day, they investigated complaints of law-breaking—real cases from a few years ago, with names changed. The...
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by Jim Rietmulder | Jan 28, 2013 | Ideas
Agency is the capacity to choose and act on your own behalf, and may be a hallmark of life. A rock just sits there, but living creatures can do things, can take actions. Even bacteria detect and move towards nutrients, making choices and taking action in a primitive...
by Jim Rietmulder | Dec 10, 2012 | Ideas
Nature impels us to avoid death and seek infinity. Call the first a biological imperative and the second a spiritual imperative. The first is the survival instinct. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs suggests you must satisfy the first before you can do much about the...
