Very little has changed about how traditional schools* work in the United States since they began almost 200 years ago. Sure, some new technologies and various teaching fads have come and gone, but the main feature common throughout has been that young people must attend and do as they are instructed. Almost all the important decisions about what they do, how they do it, when they do it, and for what reason are decided by someone else (teachers, school districts, state education departments), rarely by their families and even more rarely by young people themselves.

If ever there has been something in need of a little imagination in what is possible, school is it.

The Learning Cooperatives have started using a new tagline: School Reimagined. It’s a pretty bold claim. “How are you reimagining school?” you might say. Thanks for asking!

The most important way is by giving families choice in education and prioritizing young people’s voice in how they pursue their learning. “Choice and Voice,” if you will. We believe in open-ended choices for families and young people, not choices where you must pick one: A, B, C. We believe young people and their parents should have the option of D, “none of the above,” and options to write in choices of their own making. This level of decision-making choice allows us to respect each young person as an individual and the particular conditions in which they can thrive. We are not required to follow a predetermined formula designed by someone else with little regard to the actual lives of the young people and families we work with.

We also believe that young people’s voices should be the loudest when it comes to their learning and what path they take in the future. One of our catch-phrases around The Learning Cooperatives is “Who’s driving the bus?” Our answer is, “It should be the young person—with all of the help and support they want and need from the adults in their lives.” 

Adolescence is a time when people start to exercise their independence. We see our role as supporting that process and helping young people use it responsibly to create the kind of life they want for themselves. We don’t want to squash that drive for independence in the way it often is in traditional schools so that young people’s first taste of real freedom is when they go off to college or to the workforce.

Of course, young people are not all-knowing sages or wise old souls who have everything figured out. Neither are adults. We’re all figuring it out as we go. We can all use mentors, coaches, advisors, therapists, empathetic friends. We have built a strong mentoring program at The Learning Cooperatives where young people have weekly one-on-one time with their mentor to make plans, reflect, and course correct if things go off track. This is not the “see your school counselor once a year” kind of guidance, but a valuable guide to help young people and their families navigate all the wonderful (but potentially overwhelming) choices available.

This focus on mentoring and relationships forms the basis of the type of community we aim for at The Learning Cooperatives—respect for young people and their needs and a welcoming space where people can be their authentic selves. When issues do arise between members of our community, the method is not punishment, but rather to repair relationships and find a way to be in the space together peacefully. Unfortunately, the size and bureaucracy of many traditional schools can undermine the opportunity for a positive relationship-based approach to community.

This is an exciting time to be involved in education in the United States—no, not in the conventional school system weighed down by mandates, inflexibility, and bureaucracy—but in the incredible range of resources, opportunities, programs, and support outside of the traditional system. If you still have the equation “Learning = Traditional School” as your frame of reference, prepare to have your mind blown as you start to look at all of the possibilities for young people to learn outside of the traditional system. Ask us—we can share some of them. It just takes a little (re)imagination.

*“School”—such a simple word with such a seemingly straightforward meaning. But well into The Learning Cooperative’s 15th year, no other word has caused more hand-wringing, debate, and confusion inside and outside of our community than “school.” Let me explain.

When people ask what The Learning Cooperatives are, we have been steadfast in insisting that we are not schools. We have used a lot of other jargony terms to describe ourselves—a self-directed education center, an unschooling center, a homeschool support center—to just name a few. No one in the general public has any idea what those things could possibly be. And, they are right to be confused because the correct English word for a place where young people gather to learn things is “school.” The issue is that ever since the introduction of compulsory schooling in the 1800’s, the word “school” has picked up a lot of baggage that we do not want to carry.

What is this baggage? It mostly has to do with, as I say in my TEDx talk, “Making kids who don’t want to be there in the first place, do things they don’t want to do.” When you don’t have people’s consent you end up having to do all sorts of things—punishments and rewards—that might elicit compliance, but very rarely support the bigger goal of education: helping young people learn, grow, and flourish in the world.

So sure, think of us and call us a school if you must 😀. But please remember that The Learning Cooperatives are attempting to drop all of the baggage to support young people’s autonomy and develop their decision-making abilities…and don’t be surprised if you hear me mutter under my breath, “we’re not a school.”