Alternative schools abandoning structure

by JAMES KELLER (click on title to read entire story)

HALIFAX (CP) - There are no classes at Fairfield School, housed in a three-storey farmhouse in the heart of a small Nova Scotia town. There are no certified teachers, no grades and no required curriculum, either.

Instead, students at the park-like campus in Wolfville decide what they're interested in learning and how they want to be taught.

If they want to learn Japanese instead of crunching integers, or if younger children would rather play with Lego than learn how to read, that's up to them.

The school is one of several dozen around the world - and three in Canada - following the principles of the Sudbury Valley School in Framingham, Mass.

The philosophy is simple: children are naturally curious and will take the initiative to learn if given the chance.

And experts say this alternative model, which is regaining popularity, can benefit students.

"Within the traditional school model, children are being told what's important, when to study, and they're being evaluated continuously," says John Grant, who has enrolled four of his five children in Fairfield since it opened in 2002 and is now an adjunct staff member.

"What we're hoping to produce are students who are innovative, interested and self-reliant."