Hi, I'm Carol Nash, one of the founders of Alpha II Alternative School, a public democratic school in Toronto, Canada for young people ages 12 to 20 to self-direct their learning in relation to what they personally value in a community based on consensus where each person's voice counts in developing that consensus. Alpha II was founded the first year our family was part of its sister school ALPHA Alternative School, an elementary school based on articles 26.2 and 26.3 of the declaration of human rights:
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
As a co-founder of an alternative school, I first became aware of the Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) through the teachers at ALPHA. They let me know that membership to AERO, and attending the yearly conference would be invaluable to helping to found Alpha II. I joined AERO in 2007 and participated in the online discussions for the first few years until our family had enough money for me to attend the conference at Long Island University in New York. In those years when we had to be very careful about our finances, what was attractive about the AERO conference was its low cost and that the stay in the residence at LIU was included in the cost. This is still true of today's conference.
After the first year of attending as a participant, I became a yearly presenter at AERO. What was important to me changing my status at the conference was that I now had an appointment in History of Medicine at the University of Toronto. Since 2012, this has involved facilitating a weekly group that helps people take the stories of why they do health-related research and, with the equal help of all members of the group, develop their stories into narratives with a particular point of view to help sustain their research throughout their careers. Since developing narratives can be seen as an important basis to self-directed learning in communities based on consensus, I see my work as an extension of why I helped to found Alpha II Alternative School and why I see this same work as relevant at the AERO conference.
Over the years at the AERO conference, I have endeavored in my workshops to provide participants with tools and techniques for developing their narratives related to education. I have heard from participants that these tools and techniques have been very useful to them as founders of other self-directed schools and programs. This year, I plan to use my own narrative for why I helped co-found Alpha II to help members of my workshop develop similar narratives related to why they want to found their schools or programs.
The AERO conference is the only place I know of in North America where people throughout the world who have, or want to, found democratic, self-directed learning opportunities can meet to discuss what it is like to be a founder and how we can proceed to encourage democratic, self-directed learning for all young people.
If you see yourself as part of developing democratic, self-directed learning for all young people, I suggest you join me at the next AERO conference at Long Island University in New York from the evening of August 2 to the afternoon of August 6.
I look forward to seeing you at the AERO conference!
Sincerely,
Carol
From Presenter Aaron Eden
"School as we have inherited it is actually reducing human capacity. Come to the AERO conference to explore and share ways to augment instead of reduce human potential. Do it for a sustainable future."
-Aaron Eden, Co-founder and Principal of the Eliad Group
