Friday, September 7.1973
University Daily Kansan
Free Schools Present Alternative
By JIMKENDELL Kansan Feature Editor
The mark of a free school is the way it operates.
Students at Yarrow, a high school, sometimes attend class on weekends or in
Students at Lorton, a grade school, meet every morning to talk about the school's problems, like discipline, and to plan their activities for the day.
Students at Yellow Brick Road, a nursery school and kindergarten, choose their own
All are part of the Lawrence Association For Innovative Education.
The august school is in its second year of operation and the other two are in their third. All charge tuition, though Yarrow and Lorien base it on ability to pay.
Yarrow is moving into a new classroom today at 1145 Louisiana, just off campus in the Bronx.
S six students, four girls and two boys were enrolled as of Wednesday and three more students were considering enrollment. Tuition ranges from $25 to $50 a month.
Larry Mulbern, the volunteer coordinator of the school, has recruited 24 volunteers to help with the program.
Some of the volunteers are certified and experienced teachers, but most are students at the University of Kansas. Students from the state and expect to receive it.
"Certification doesn't play a factor in who's a teacher," Mulbern said recently. In the past, most teachers didn't receive
The school is recognized by the state of
Michigan, but not accredited. So, it can't
away from home.
Mulhern said, "You don't need a high school diploma to get into college anymore." He said some colleges were even interested in attracting students from free schools to compare them with students from regular high schools.
Some of the classes which are planned for this year are sewing, drama, film making, and acting.
Some students will attend classes at the Kaw School. Students with Crafts and the Performing Arts will attend classes at the Performing Arts School.
field trips to visit the state legislature and go horseback riding.
Since the number of students is so small many of the classes are tutorial. The structure of a particular class is left to the teacher and the students.
The students have a large say in how the school is run. They meet each week to go over the problems of the previous week and plan for the next.
The school was started last by a group of 15 high school students. My the end of the
Katy Dutton, one of the students, explained, "A lot of people really wren it into me," she said.
Some of the students missed the structure of a regular high school, for some it was too small, some missed old friends and one went on to study at KU.
At Loren regular reading and math have been started this fall for the first time.
Eighteen students, of 12 years old attend the school, in Good Shepherd Lutheran School.
Reading and math were taught on in-
dividual bases at the school last year, but parental pressure forced the school to go to regular classes.
month. Five teachers and several aids conduct the classes.
Five levels of reading are taught at the school and four levels of math.
"The kids this year are ready for the classes and some of the kids that don't know how to read are ready to learn," said Ric Averill, a teacher at the school.
Field trips are common for the students. sometimes only the interested students go out.
Other activities include music, history,
drama, gym, yoga, astronomy, dancing,
music, dance, theater.
Last year they traveled to the zoo and Nelson Art Gallery in Kansas City, Kansas Color Press, a bakery, a dairy, the public library once a week and museums at KU.
The school would like to have 25 to 30 students to make sure they can pay their tuition.
"We're really in trouble this fall," said Keaton. The five teachers each teach three days a week and are $200 a month.
The reasons for the problems are that some students moved and some are now attending a program for 7 and 8-year-olds at Hilton hill care center.
The school, like Yarrow, is run by the students themselves. They meet each morning to discuss problems that have happened and announcements and plan their activities.
All the rules of the school are voted on and enforced by the children themselves. If someone breaks a rule, they decide how to discipline the offender.
The school is recognized by the state, but not accredited. Four of the teachers have taught in public school, two of whom are teachers in private school. Other has a degree in music composition.
Yellow Brick Road, 7th and Elm, is the largest of the free schools. Fifteen students attend its morning session and 15 attend the afternoon.
One male teacher and one female teacher instruct each session. The students are from
The major difference between this school and other nursery schools is that the students have more choice of their activities.
Tuition is $33 a month for either the morning or afternoon session. The four
weekends are included.
The head teacher, Jo Andersen, is certified to teach young children. One teacher has taught high school; the other two are KU students.
The teachers help the students to learn about a new toy or piece of equipment when needed.
Generally a student will not ask about something unless they see it prominently displayed in the classroom, so the teachers display before the students arrive in class.
Field trips are part of this free school, too.
They have visited craft shops, grocery
stores, and museums.
The school is run by the staff and parents. All important decisions are made at a meeting.
Students, Parents Laud Freedom, Opportunities
Above: Richard Linker, instructor at
Abbey to accent his role as Rafe
Corker.
"At Yarrow we can search within ourselves," said one student of that high school recently. "We can work harder and be happier because of the smaller individualized setup. The learning system is better and we can be more honest."
Personal attention, freedom, and participation in running the school are the reasons students attend free schools and their parents send them there.
The students at Yarrow feel that they learn as much in a free school as in a public school.
"in a free school a student can choose a subject of interest and stick with it, while in public school they force you to learn many things but no time to expand," another student said.
Betty Dutton, a parent of a Yarrow student and the wife of a University of Kansas associate professor, agreed that in a free school a student's potential is greater because he is free to pursue his own interests.
"Because the school is smaller and less formal there are more opportunities to be involved in decision making and more responsibility is achieved."
Through such a system a person can develop his own opinions and adjust to it.
One problem that Yarrow must cope with is the lack of state accreditation. Though a student can take a high school equivalency exam, their children will not be admitted to college.
Below: Lawrence Kay, student at Lorenzo School, plays monsieur after painting his paintings.
The students were not particularly worried about being admitted to college. They said that all that was necessary to get into college was to take the entrance exams.
"The greatest problem I had here was to motivate myself," one student said. "There was a period of about one year when I did not want to work at home, and then I wanted to keep myself busy."
Society has accepted the free school system, according to Bob Hubert, a volunteer instructor at Yarrow and president of the umbrella group for the
Competency Doubted
Many coordinators of free schools are very sincere but don't always have the competence to organize something for children, according to Phil McKnight, assistant professor of education and educational resources at the University of Kansas.
By KAREN HILKER
Assistant Feature Editor
They often have no idea of the legal responsibilities and ethical obligations to them.
Most free schools are an attempt to correct problems in the public school system.
If more money was devoted to public education and existing technology were fully utilized, there would be more independence in a public classroom, he said.
More money in the public school system would mean fewer students in the classroom and a better chance for personalized instruction. McKnight said.
responsive to individual needs. he said.
However, with classroom ratios of 30 students to one teacher, there must be an efficiency about organizing or structuring education, he said.
Teachers would have more time to work with students individually or be more
A school should be designed to consider students, their individual characters, the subject matter and the available resources, McKnight said.
Under limited operating funds, structured classrooms make possible mass education of students.
The freedom and structure of each classroom depends on the subject. Subjects such as a foreign language require a more structured atmosphere for learning, he said.
McKnight said, computers also make education more personalized by producing individual schedules for large numbers of students.
McKnight described learning as involvement with somebody. A student can never be completely independent or free of a teacher while learning, he said.
Lawrence free schools, the Lawrence Association for Innovative Education.
Hubert, whose 6-year-old daughter attends Lorien, a free grade school, said that children enjoyed themselves more in a free school because there was more time for friendships and socialization. The majority of students at Lorien agreed with him.
Ron Adelberg, a 7-year-old student at Lorien, said that at a free school there was more time to play games and that the classes were more fun.
Hubert, a former teacher in the Shawnee Miston school system, said that to much work was done by her.
"People don't think of it as something radical," he said. "He says we have learned about alternatives and that is what a free school is, an alternative."
Eleven-year-old Buck Cockerill said, "We
Above: Pre-school students at Yellow Brick Road gather around teacher Linda Hedrick to listen to a story. Right: Lioren Student Jaisman Jackson
Sheldon Adelberg, Ron's father and a KU graduate student, said that the sharing in the free schools can achieve greater cooperation in society.
Like Yarrow, Lorien is not free from problems. According to Adelberg the students sometimes get carried away by the lack of rules. This upsets some students.
study one thing longer and learn more interesting things. For instance, this year we will study the new chapter.
Free schools are becoming more popular and successful, but are leaining toward more structure. Hubert said. Compared to high, high, free schools are much more, well, free.
It doesn't matter to him that free schools cost more than public schools, because the schools are private.
Kansan Staff Photos by CARL DAVAZ
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