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Report on the 2017 AERO Conference

The AERO conference of 2017 was held from August 2nd to August 6th. Those who attended experienced a very special event. This included:
  • A spectacular cruise around Manhattan Island.
  • A visit to Pono, an education center in West Harlem in Manhattan
  • Three documentaries, including a presentation by 22 year old Taiwanese film maker Adler Yang of his award-winning film, “If There is a Reason to Study”
  • The book launch of Jerry Mintz’ “School’s Over”
  • A keynote by unschool expert Dayna Martin
  • Six TED-like mini-talks
  • A keynote by MET Schools founder Dennis Littky
  • A keynote by Alliance of Self-Directed Education founder and author Peter Gray
  • A lunch keynote by Argentine film maker German Doin.
  • A keynote by renowned education writer Jonathan Kozol
  • A keynote by minority unschooling expert Akilah Richards
  • Two amazing panels with keynoters
  • An exclusive reading of a keynote written by paralyzed educator and author John Gatto
  • 36 amazing workshops
  • 12 display tables, a virtual reality demonstration, a Mine Craft server, networking events, book signings
We had attendees from 12 countries and 23 states.
Here are some comments from attendees:
“The AERO conference of 2017 was one of the most powerful/ inspiring networking events I have been to in my life. What great work AERO is doing!”  CV, Colombia
“I found the keynote speakers GREATLY inspiring!  DF
“”I had such a wonderful experience at this conference, and met so many amazing people. I hoped to help bring homeschooling into the Alternative Education conversation in the same way that unschooling has always been. I didn’t anticipate that I would leave with a completely re-framed vision of my work, and my place in this movement. Thanks AERO!!” BR
The AERO conference was a great success. I felt especially blessed to appear on the same stage, in a panel discussion,with one of my long-time heroes, Jonathan Kozol.  And, what a treat is was to hear Jerry Mintz read the speech written for this conference by the great John Gatto, on how education is all about the quest for water, food, and overcoming separation. The conference also, I think, saw the birth of a new star in the advocacy for Self-Directed Education.  When I recommended Akilah Richards to Jerry as a keynoter, I knew she would be good, but I didn’t know she would be THAT good.  Thank you, Jerry, for including her.  And thank you for your generosity in making room, at almost the last minute, for representatives of the Alliance for Self-Directed Education (ASDE) and the ASDE workshop.    Peter Gray
“I have to thank you again for making space for me at AERO this year. It was such a pleasure to learn from and be received by the AERO tribe. I’m still reading through the copious notes I took, and reveling in the wonderful connections made!” Akilah Richards
This quote from Jonathan Kozol’s talk really stuck with Gleamer Sullivan:
“Learning should be a journey of discovery instead of a forced march to a preplanned destination.”
“I’m just back from the Alternative Education Resource Organization AERO conference and don’t have words to describe how beneficial I found it. It was like being as close to hope as we can rightfully get at this moment in history. It was not only about providing for children to become what they want to be. It was also about creating a world in which they feel equal and secure.” RF, Canada
I really enjoyed the keynotes and many workshops.  It was especially useful to have networking time over meals.  Meeting new people who become friends is such a benefit of the conference.
-Candy Landvoigt, Highland School
“The conference was not just informative or thought-provoking, but was bolstering and reaffirming to me as a homeschooler.” MF
“The conference was a gift. I feel more ready to do the work in front of me. It’s as if all I’ve been doing from inside the system has led me to AERO and all the incredible people you attract. Now is the time to show our communities how it all works.”  DM
A child care staff member was told this by a 6 year old, “I know that I am in this child care so my mother can go to workshops at the AERO conference, but to tell you the truth, you made me feel like this was my conference!
The audios of the workshops and videos of the mini-talks and keynoters were made by Jeff Gold’s group. They will be available soon. See below for more information
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Peter Berg’s Report on the AERO Conference

It happens every year. I come back from the AERO conference inspired, invigorated and ready to keep the education revolution moving forward.  This year’s conference was held in New York at Long Island University’s Post Campus.

What AERO does that very few other organizations do is bring together people from anywhere in the world who are interested in the idea of humans as natural learners and learner driven education.

If we all talked to each other, shared our best practices, resources, and energy learner driven education would be the norm, which in my opinion would lead to a more just, sustainable world.

The AERO conference kicked off with two documentaries: Screenagers and Movement which prompted dynamic discussions.

The next day started with a keynote talk by Danya Martin, sharing her work of creating educational freedom for children through mentoring others on the nuances of radical unschooling.

The day continued with min- talks from Jamaal Bowman, Michael Hynes, Brenna Gibson Redpath, Joanna Faber, Jane Macdonald and Debra O’Rourke on topics ranging from what learner driven education can look like in public schools, and homeschooling options, to youth created alternative free schools and the power and nature of creativity.

The evening got underway with a group meet and greet session led by Jerry Mintz, the Executive Director of AERO followed by Jerry reading excerpts from his new book  School’s Over, How to Have Freedom and Democracy in Education which signified its official launch.

Shortly after, participants were treated to Adler Yang’s documentary If There Is A Reason To Study followed by a Q & A session with Adler.

As happened every evening many conversations and impromptu meetings lasted well into the late night hours as conference attendees shared their work, resources, passion, and knowledge with each other.

The next day saw many of the incredible, diverse and dynamic workshops kick into high gear.

The day concluded with two amazing keynotes from Dennis Litky on his work of revolutionizing public education through his work with The Big Picture schools and Peter Gray  on the natural way humans learn through play and observation and have been doing so for millennia, and a panel discussion with Peter Gray, Dennis Litky, and Akilah Richards . 

As conference goers awoke the next morning they had a variety of workshops to choose from as well as plenty of time for networking and sharing.  During the lunch break German Doin delivered a fascinating keynote sharing his journey of making education documentaries.

The day progressed with more workshops some of which were delivered by students who attended the conference.  As dinner ended attendees piled into the LIU Auditorium for Jonathan Kozol’s keynote on educational freedom, inequality, and justice.

Immediately following, Peter Gray joined Jonothan Kozol in a unique panel discussion where Peter Gray posed some questions to Jonathan Kozol before they both responded to questions from the audience.

The last day of the conference was marked by a dynamic energizing keynote from Akilah Richards where she talked about how self-directed education can and should be available and usable to all.

John Taylor Gatto prepared a written statement, since he is unable to appear in person, for the next keynote which was read by Jerry Mintz and followed up by Gatto publisher David Rodriguez.

The conference ended with an evaluation and call to action session.  Many participants stayed after the conference officially ended to continue their networking and work on furthering the education revolution.

During the conference, the AERO team recorded podcasts with Brenna Gibson Redpath & Anna Smith from Urban Homeschoolers on the ins and outs of homeschooling and some common myths surrounding it; Students from The New School and The Highland School on what it is like to live and learn in a democratic school, and what democratic education looks like, and Akilah Richards on liberating all communities through educational freedom and self-directed education.   Be on the look out for these wonderful podcasts as they will be released shortly, as well as audio CDs of all presentations, and DVDs of the keynotes and mini-talks.

AERO is happy to continue to bring such incredible diversity of educational thought, experience, and practice together in all of its work and has already begun putting together next year’s conference as well as many exciting new initiatives in 2017-2018.

Thank you to all the keynoters, presenters, volunteers and participants.  You are what makes AERO the organization that it is.

 

Ebooks

All ebook purchases support AERO’s work and mission to help create an education revolution to make learner-centered education available to everyone.

All AERO Ebooks 50% until 11/30 unless otherwise marked

 

School’s Over

How To Have Freedom And Democracy In Education

By Jerry Mintz

Turning Points Only $.99

35 Visionaries in Education Tell Their Own Stories

By Various Authors

How To Grow A School

Starting And Sustaining Schools That Work

By Chris Mercogliano

Fearless Teaching

Collected Stories

By Stuart Grauer

The Self-Organizing Revolution Only $.99

Common Principles of the Educational Alternatives Movement

By Ron Miller

My Life as a Traveling Homeschooler

In The Words Of An 11 Year Old

By Jenifer Goldman

Creating Learning Communities

Models, Resources, and New Ways of Thinking About Teaching and Learning

By Ron Miller

Back To The Future

Education

By Len Solo

The Outside In Book

A Book About Tolerance

By Lisa Mintz Harris

Democratic Education

A Beginning of a Story

By Yaacov Hecht

I was a Spy in the Public Schools $.99 until Saturday 11/24

By Jerry Mintz

One Size Does Not Fit All

A Student’s Assessment of School

By Jerry Mintz

Flood of Conflict

The New Orleans Free School Story

By Jerry Mintz

My Friend Lenny 50% off until Sunday 11/26

A Memoir of My Life in Music, with Personal Stories About Leonard Bernstein, Mike Wallace, Paul Simon, and Others

By Ouida Blatt Mintz

Jerry Mintz, Speaker, Consultant

Jerry Mintz
Jerry Mintz

Jerry Mintz has been a leading voice in the alternative school movement for over 30 years. In addition to his seventeen years as a public and independent alternative school principal and teacher, he has also helped found more than one hundred public and private alternative schools and organizations. He has lectured and consulted in more than twenty-five countries around the world.

In 1989, he founded the Alternative Education Resource Organization and since then has served as it’s Director. Jerry was the first executive director of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools (NCACS), and was a founding member of the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC).

In addition to several appearances on national radio and TV shows, Jerry’s essays, commentaries, and reviews have appeared in numerous newspapers, journals, and magazines including The New York Times, Newsday, Paths of Learning, Green Money Journal, Communities, Saturday Review, Holistic Education Review as well as the anthology Creating Learning Communities (Foundation for Educational Renewal, 2000).

Jerry was Editor-in-Chief for the Handbook of Alternative Education (Macmillan, 1994), and the Almanac of Education Choices (Macmillan/Simon & Schuster, 1995). He is the author of School’s Over: How to Have Freedom and Democracy in Education (AERO, 2017) and is editor of Turning Points: 35 Visionaries in Education Tell Their Own Story (AERO, 2010).

His consultations and presentations can help anyone who:

is starting a new alternative

Is looking for an alternative for their children or in which to teach

wants to change their school or organization’s culture to a more learner-centered approach.

Jerry Mintz has spoken at Alternative Education Resource Organization Conferences from its inception in 2004 through 2019 in locations such as Troy, NY, Albany, NY, Portland, OR, and Long Island University. He has spoken at the International Democratic Education Conference in locations including Hadera, Israel, Vienna, Austria, Devon, England, Summerhill School, England, Vinnitsa, Ukraine, Tokyo, Japan, Christchurch, New Zealand, Sydney, Australia, Berlin, Germany, Bhubanashwar, India, Vancouver, Canada, Nuestra Escuela, Puerto Rico, Boulder, Colorado, Gwangmyeong, Korea, Mikkeli, Finland, and Kiev, Ukraine. He has done TEDx talks in Brooklyn and Norway. He has also spoken at the Reevo Conference in Bogota, Colombia, the ED Crunch Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Eureka Conferences in Narva, Estonia, Simferipol, Ukraine, and Moscow, Russia, The Green Festival in New York, International Association of Learning Alternatives Conferences in Deluth, MN, Portland, OR, St. Augustine, FL, Atlanta, GA, Des Moines, IA, Denver, CO, Amsterdam, NY. He has spoken a homeschooling conferences such as in Albany, NY, Montreal, Quebec, Dallas, TX. He has spoken at the Montessori Foundation Conference in Sarasota, FL. He spoke at numerous National Coalition of Alternative Community School conferences such as in Salem, OR, Chicago, IL, Santa Fe, NM, Ann Arbor, MI, Bloomington, IN, San Diego, CA, Summertown, TN, Glenmoore, PA. He has done consultations in nearly every state and over 22 countries, most recently in Eger, Hungary, Chalford, England and Kiev, Ukraine.

If you are interested in featuring Jerry Mintz as a keynote speaker, consultant or for a TV or radio show, contact him at Jerryaero@aol.com or call 516-621-2195.

Articles by Jerry Mintz

Democratic School Governance

Democratic Table Tennis Club

Sustainable Education

Ten Signs You Need to Find a Different Kind of Education for Your Child

The Whys and Hows of Alternative Education: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

Interviews, Podcasts & Articles Featuring Jerry Mintz

Why Unschool?

Podcast featuring Jan Hunt, Kelly Lovejoy, Jerry Mintz, Idzie Desmarais, Carsie Blanton, Michelle Loucas, Sandra Dodd and Nikiah Childs.

Listen HERE

Why Schools Have learning All Wrong

Listen Here.

Resources For Alternative Education

Listen Here.

Videos Featuring Jerry Mintz

Excerpt from Class Dismissed

Pioneers in Alternative Higher Education

The Power of Democratic Process in Schools

Jerry Mintz on Fox News Show, Hannity and Colmes

What is wrong with traditional education?

Jerry Mintz, Director of the Alternative Education Resource Organization, gives a broad overview of what is fundamentally wrong with the paradigm of human learning underpinning traditional education.