The 2008 free school, fabulous as it was, has now concluded. Thanks to all who taught, learned, and hopefully did a bit of both.
Check out photos by Maya Rolbin-Ghanie and by Eli Gordon.
Listen to a radio documentary about the 2008 free school.
| learn | skills |
| cultivate | knowledge |
| discuss | ideas |
| question | assumptions |
| revolutionize | education |
Math, Canadian foreign policy, contemporary art, parenting, independent journalism, boatbuilding, radical economics, gardening, theatre, cartography.
We all have something to teach, and we all have a lot to learn. The Tatamagouche Summer Free School is the place and time to share what you've learned, and broaden your understanding of a wide variety of subjects.
Swimming, frisbee, discussion, local food, music.
Workshops and discussion groups will coexist with relaxation and recreation. The area has plentiful opportunities for swimming, cycling, and lying in the sun, and the Summer Free School holds them as equally important.
To recap: four days of learning, discussion, relaxation, good food, interesting people, and (hopefully) sun.
How do I find out more?
The sessions have not yet been set. Schedules will be posted as they become available. To get a sense of what the Free School is like, you can check out the last two years online the 2005 Free School has a schedule and photos, while the 2006 Free School has a schedule, and extensive documentation of selected sessions on the Free School Weblog.
If you wish to receive notice of updates, send an email to freeschool [at] fairtrademedia.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.
Where from? Where to?
The Tatamagouche Summer Free School (TSFS) sprang from the acknowledgement of the existence of a strange state of affairs: we know dozens of intelligent, interesting people with a broad knowledge of subjects that we're interested in. Though we may sometimes luck into a good long conversation, we rarely have the opportunity to share knowledge among ourselves in any depth. Instead, we pay thousands of dollars to learn from strangers.
Based on the realization that a good context for learning shouldn't cost thousands of dollars, the TSFS exists where stimulating conversation and useful knowledge overlap. Think of it as four days of great conversation, and valuable, useful knowledge.
If the TSFS is a success, it will be the first step in creating a new tradition of learning in the Maritimes, and efforts can begin to expand the School's capacity to spread knowledge to greater numbers of people.
The TSFS is the first step in creating a set of practices for a new kind of university: accessible, democratic, and making room for a more radically broad spectrum of knowledge.