An anarchistic free school (also anarchist free school and free skool) is a decentralized network in which skills, information, and knowledge are shared without hierarchy or the institutional environment of formal schooling. Free school students may be adults, children, or both. This organisational structure is distinct from ones used by democratic free schools which permit children's individual initiatives and learning endeavors within the context of a school democracy, and from free education where 'traditional' schooling is made available to pupils without charge. The open structure of free schools is intended to encourage self-reliance, critical consciousness, and personal development. Free schools often operate outside the market economy in favor of a gift economy. Nevertheless, the meaning of the "free" of free schools is not restricted to monetary cost, and can refer to an emphasis on free speech and student-centred education.
Free schools have their roots in the anarchist Escuela Moderna of Spain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are, at heart, non-institutional, non-authoritarian, and counter-cultural. Generally, these are formed at a grassroots level by a group of individuals acting collectively and autonomously to create educational opportunities and promote skill-sharing within their communities. For example, the Anarchist Free School in Toronto was described as "a volunteer-run, autonomous collective offering free courses, workshops, and lectures."
Video Anarchistic free school
Philosophy
While the philosophy and intention of anarchist free school projects vary, they share a desire to offer free ongoing education without hierarchy and outside institutional control.
Free Skool Santa Cruz in California is perhaps typical of the current batch of free schools that are explicitly rooted in an anarchist tradition of collectivism, self-reliance, and mutual support, and feature informal, non-authoritarian learning outside the monetary economy. From the Free Skool Santa Cruz website: "More than just an opportunity to learn, we see Free Skool as a direct challenge to dominant institutions and hierarchical relationships. Part of creating a new world is resistance to the old one, to the relentless commodification of everything, including learning and the way we relate to each other."
Maps Anarchistic free school
History
Spanish anarchist Francisco Ferrer (1859-1909) established "modern" or progressive schools in Spain in defiance of an educational system controlled by the church. Fiercely anti-clerical, he believed in "freedom in education," education free from the authority of church and state. Murray Bookchin writes: "This period [1890s] was the heyday of libertarian schools and pedagogical projects in all areas of the country where Anarchists exercised some degree of influence. Perhaps the best-known effort in this field was Francisco Ferrer's Modern School (Escuela Moderna), a project which exercised a considerable influence on Catalan education and on experimental techniques of teaching generally."
Currently active free schools/skools
Europe
- Free School Cadiz - Cadiz, Spain (2013-14)
Aotearoa New Zealand
- The Kaitiaki Collective - Auckland
Canada
- Halifax FreeSkool - Halifax, NS
- Hamilton FreeSkool - Hamilton, ON
- KW FreeSkool - Kitchener-Waterloo, ON
- Niagara FreeSkool - St.Catharines, ON
- Toronto Free School - Toronto, ON
- Anarchist U in Toronto - Toronto, ON
- Camas FreeSkool - Victoria, BC
- Falls Brook Free School - Knowlesville, NB
- Calgary School of Informal Education - Calgary, Alberta
United Kingdom
- London Free School - London
- Really Free School - London
- Leeds Free School (founded 1973)
United States
- Atlanta Free School - Atlanta, GA
- Corvid College-Boston, Massachusetts
- Corvid College-San Francisco, California
- LA Free Skool-Los Angeles, California
- Albany Free School - Albany, NY
- Prescott Freeskool - Prescott, AZ
- Austin Free Skool - Austin, TX
- Davis People's Free School - Davis, CA
- Newberg Free Skool - Newberg, OR
- West Marin - Inverness, CA
- East Bay Free Skool - Oakland, CA
- San Francisco Free School- San Francisco, CA
- Free Skool Santa Cruz - Santa Cruz, CA
- Colorado Free University - Denver, CO
- Free School Denver - Denver, CO
- Fort Collins Free School - Fort Collins, CO
- Bridgeport Free Skool - Bridgeport, CT
- New Haven Free Skool - New Haven, CT
- Bloomington Free Skool - Bloomington, IN
- Baltimore Free School - Baltimore, MD
- Little Lake Learning Community - Ann Arbor, MI
- Mount Pleasant Free School - Mount Pleasant, MI
- Ypsilanti Free Skool - Ypsilanti, MI
- Experimental College of the Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN
- Freeskool Asheville - Asheville, NC
- Mercer Free School - Mercer County, NJ
- Ithaca Free Skool - Ithaca, NY
- Eugene Free School - Eugene, OR
- Orlando Free Skool - Orlando, FL
- Portland Freeskool - Portland, OR
- Pgh Free Skool - Pittsburgh, PA
- Vermillion Free Skool - Vermillion, SD
- Free Skool Olympia - Olympia, WA
- Seattle Free School - Seattle, WA
- Free University of Gainesville - Gainesville, Fl
- FSU Center for Participant Education - Tallahassee, FL
- St. Pete Free Skool - St. Petersburg, FL
- Tampa Free Skool - Tampa, FL
- Madison Free Skool - Madison, WI
- Common Action Free School - Bloomington/Normal, IL
- Philly Free Skool - Philadelphia, PA
- New Orleans Free School Network - New Orleans, LA
- Klamath Free School - Klamath Falls, OR
- The Brooklyn Free School - Brooklyn, NY
- South Florida Free Skool - South Florida Tri-County Area, FL
- Always Learning Salt Lake City - Salt Lake Valley, UT
See also
- Anarchism and education
- Alternative education
- Alternative school
- DIY ethic
- Direct action
- Democratic education
- Education
- Grassroots democracy
- Sudbury School
- Unschooling
- UnCollege
References
External links
- Free Skools Project Wiki - a resource and organizing hub for the free skool movement
- Alternative Education Resource Organization
- Free to Learn - a radical experiment in education (documentary)
- Independent Schools Council Australia
- ABC Radio National program on Progressive Schools in Australia
- RÉPAQ (Réseau des écoles publiques alternatives du Québec)
- The Indypendent: John Tarleton, Why the Free School Rules
- "The Anarchist Free Space and Free Skool" by Jeff Shantz
- RÉDAQ (Réseau des écoles démocratiques au Québec)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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