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World Premier of Children’s Village Documentary

Filmmaker Marvin Blunte has made an incredible documentary about Moo Baan Dek, The Children’s Village, a very special school/orphanage in rural Thailand. I have known about it for decades, as it was inspired by Summerhill and runs democratically. The film, “6 Weeks to Mothers Day,” will have its world premier on Thursday November 16th at the DOC NYC film festival in lower Manhattan at the IFC Center.
It was founded 38 years ago by Rajani Dhongchai, known as Mae Aew, or Mother and her husband, Piphop. The film centers around the celebration of Mothers Day 38 years after Mae Aew founded the Village. She will be at the showing and will see the film for trhe first time!
It is very skillfully filmed and has many insightful and dramatic scenes. For example one shows two young twins meeting with their birth parents for their first time in memory.  There are also several scenes with democratic meetings. The documentary is not a public relations piece but shows a variety of real life situations and issues.
If you are in the New York area, don’t miss this. Tickets are going very fast but here’s a link to get them.
If tickets are sold out please email: 6weekstomothersday@gmail.com and let them know you would like to be put on the waiting list. Additional screenings my be added.
6 WEEKS TO MOTHER’S DAY is also collaborating with Google Expeditions to create a virtual reality (VR) field trip, where teachers and students can use Google Cardboard to be transported to Children’s Village Thailand. This will be the first ever Expedition available in both English and Thai, further solidifying Mother Aew as one of the most progressive minded teachers in the country. Special edition “6 Weeks to Mother’s Day” Google Cardboards will be handed out to the audience after the DOC NYC screening, and instructions will be posted on the film’s Facebook page.
If you are further afield you can look for other places the film will show and you can reach the filmmaker at
or follow them on their social media pages here:
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Authoritarian Culture Caused by Schools and it May be Too Late

Editorial by Jerry Mintz

‘There is much talk and hand wringing these days about the authoritarian turn in our government and the racism that seems to be bubbling up in our society. But none of this should be surprising when you consider the environment that most Americans have experienced as they have grown up.

Perhaps 95% of Americans, in public or private schools, have experienced a basically authoritarian system for 12 years in which they were expected to sit quietly at their desks most of the time, study the things that the teachers told them to study, not veer off into other directions, and prepare to be rigorously tested on these things (rigor, as is rigor mortis).
They also, for the most part, grew up in segregated or resegregated communities, based largely on discriminatory housing and economics. Many have not had much of a chance to really get to know people of other races or ethnic backgrounds.
All of this is effective training for craving the continuation of what they became used to, of authoritarian political rule and racist beliefs. It is therefore no wonder, as some have noted, that we now have an authoritarian government with racist tendencies.
By happenstance I was in Russia for the First New Schools Festival of the Soviet Union in August of 1991. There was a lot of positive optimism there about the future. After the conference we were hosted at Yeltzin’s While House in Moscow. While I was on my way back by train to England, the very next day, Yeltzin faced down the tank during the coup, from the very spot I had been standing the day before. There was no more Soviet Union.
This ushered in a period of real experimentation and change in Russia and people hoping to work toward real democracy. But because the population was very used to authoritarian dictatorship they seem to have devolved back to it. The majority seem comfortable with that while dissidents are again squashed.
If we want to avoid a similar fate in the United States I believe it is urgent to change our schools to empower students, to have them grow up experiencing responsibility and making real decisions about their education and their lives.
But how can we do this? We’ve only found one way so far, but it is too slow. We help change or create one learner-centered school at a time.
We truly need an Education Revolution now, before it is too late, and it may already be too late.
Please make a donation here to support AERO’s work.
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Bay State Learning Center is looking for an Instructor/Program Director to join their alternative self-directed learning community

Bay State Learning Center is a non-coercive and self-directed learning community, we believe that learning is natural and teachers and students can collaborate to make education a dynamic creative process. We are a departure from traditional education and do not make use of tests, grades, negative reinforcement and extrinsic motivators. We believe in helping students to access resources so they can work to reach their own goals and cultivate their own passions.

We are looking for a forward thinking educator with enthusiasm and creativity to not only teach but serve as program director. We have been developing BSLC for four years now and we are a stable thriving program on the cusp of growing much larger. Do the kind of creative teaching you have always wanted to do, without the power struggles and unnecessary difficulties of traditional school. In a small setting like BSLC the potential for developing new ideas is limitless.

Bay State Learning Center is based on the model pioneered by Northstar Self-DIrected Learning for Teens in Sunderland, Massachusetts. There are over 14 Liberated Learners Self-Directed Learning Centers across North America and the movement is growing. Become a part of the future of education.

Hear About Bay State Learning Center On NPR! http://news.wgbh.org/2017/06/13/local-news/kids-struggling-class-dedham-school-may-have-answer

Here too. http://news.wgbh.org/2017/06/16/local-news/honors-student-ditches-public-school-design-his-own-education

Instructional Responsibilities:

  • Work as part of a small team running a self-directed learning community of about 27 kids ages 10-19

  • Flexibly teach a small variety of subjects in once a week classes; topics include the instructor’s training areas and personal interests as well as the student’s interests and needs.

  • Guide students to an excited, open-minded and active interest in learning.

  • Advise students in one on one advising sessions with an assigned selection of students. Assisting students to define their goals, pursue class work, develop general/life organizational strategies, begin college planning, etc.

  • Maintain good documentation of class sessions as well as all advising sessions in the dedicated online databases for each.

  • Work with parents and families to help with the ongoing learning and development of the students.

  • Be available for students if they need assistance with any self-directed activity from getting started and organized to completion.

    Organizational Responsibilities:

  • Help organize the weekly class schedule, as well as the yearly calendar.

  • Manage/Work with volunteer teachers to find, schedule and maintain a diverse selection of classes.

  • Help to run fundraising and outreach events to promote our program and keep it vital.

Help maintain a social media presence and assist with mass emails/newsletters
Bonus if able to help with website update and marketing graphic design

To apply send resume and cover letter explaining your interest in our program to both george@baystatelearning.org and marjorie@baystatelearning.org

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Instructors in Holistic Education needed for brand new kindergarten opening this spring in Shishi, China.

Originateve is sponsoring the recruitment of 4 instructors in Holistic Education with a focus on Cultural and Ecological Regeneration for Master Tree Kindergarten set to open up in the Spring of 2018.

Certification in Mentorship of Holistic Learning Designs is a requirement for this position. Completion of the program can be carried on site upon being hired. For more information please visit here: http://www.originateve.org/public_html/programs.html

Compensation:

Position starts at 10,ooormb/month + housing + insurance + paid holidays + one-way air-ticket home upon completion of contract and other benefits to be discussed with interested candidates.

Interested applicants should send a resume and brief cover letter to: carlemmons@originateve.org