When I describe the Learning Cooperatives as a self-directed education center, it’s not uncommon for people to need more of an explanation. Truthfully though, it’s as simple as it sounds. We are a center that encourages self-direction in education. But what does that look like? I’ve been attending some of the Black Lives Matter protests, where we are asked to … Read More
Credit, Credibility, and Sausage
If a person doesn’t go to school, how will future employers know that he or she is capable of the work at hand?
Not Your Typical Article on Childhood Play
We value play for the experiential learning…learning about the external world and how to interact with others. This is true and noteworthy, but I wonder about the value of play as a form of self expression and self-discovery.
What Do You Do When You Don’t Know What to Do with Your Life? Start Doing Stuff.
If you are one of those people who knew as a teen what they wanted to do for the rest of their life, you are a rarity. But for most of us, we had to try things out.
Failure to Launch: The Story of a Caterpillar
The number of young Americans ages 25-34 who live with their parents has increased more than 10% since 2000.
A Question of Motivation
The Story In this post, we return to our fabled twin teenagers, Kelly and Collin. These two have much in common—same age, same upbringing, shared friends, shared good looks, even a shared problem: getting their first jobs, a teenage rite of passage. However, in the past few weeks, their parents realized that the teens’ shared problem stems from different roots, … Read More
Just Try Harder Differently
Imagine this. Two teens. A brother and sister, Irish twins (Happy St. Paddy’s Day, by the way), Kelly and Colin, both of whom would benefit from more independence and responsibility. Their parents want them to get part-time jobs, and they do too, at least they say so. But neither one has taken any real steps toward that end. It’s been … Read More
The Mentoring Effect
When PLC members move on from PLC, into college, work, and life generally, they nearly always express how much their mentoring relationship has helped and supported them as they forged their path through opportunities and offerings. Mentoring is without a doubt the part of the “PLC magic” that we most value. It’s more important than just about everything. The first … Read More
Pure and Simple
You ever have one of those days when nothing seems to satisfy? Like you’re walking around wearing shades on a cloudy day? I was having a day like that about a week ago and was hungry for something pure and good, something free from the spoils of the modern world. So I headed east. Nothing, I thought, is more boundless … Read More
Outcomes for Alumni who Self-Directed their Learning
When Joel Hammon and Paul Scutt first conceived the idea to create Princeton Learning Cooperative, a number of design elements were modeled on a successful self-directed learning program in central Massachusetts, North Star: Self-Directed Learning for Teens–see our guiding principles. North Star is now in its 20th year and its director, Ken Danford, recently collected and published data exploring the … Read More
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