New Education

By Mike Chunn

The John Key/Banks announcement of the introduction of charter schools has led to a flurry of divergent opinions much of them negative. Anything to do with a ‘new’ education does. It’s a bit like the price of milk. A bottle of milk should be cheaper than it is because farmers get a good deal anyway, so we’ve been told, so why don’t they make less revenue than they might? What a good deal is exactly is not relevant. It’s just that we ‘own’ milk. Piffle.

‘Better’ education sits on the frontal lobes of most people as it either means:

• our nation will pass lots of exams with great grades – essentially meaning they know more about a subject than they need to – which brings with it a lack of experiential elements from other points of the ‘what is life’ spectrum – oops digressing – or else it means
• young people are doing homework and learning respect and getting a grip on discipline and good manners.

Piffle.

To me, charter schools bring opportunity. Education is finally being offered as a means to be a real person where someone whose primary talents are evolved in realms (reams) of intelligence, projects and wide results. Thankfully, the days of having to get a 50 percent mark in a three-hour exam is drifting into a corner where those who excel at such things along with those who believe that pass marks are the key to an economically sound future can sit them if they want but if they don’t – there is somewhere else to go.

And so the charter school concept arrives and if it comes to be we will find schools where futures are mapped out in whole facets of what makes a person complete.

Such as?

Well – say we have a school which offers learning in a number of trades. They might be plumbing, carpentry, electrical and mechanical maintenance. All targeting the dexterous and scientifically practical amongst us. Alongside that we have music, visual arts and dance. The stimulation of the imagination and the projection of self through performance, stage craft and original works. The school in light of its not-large grounds might also offer table tennis, trampolining and futsal to encourage the understanding of competition, strategy, physical prowess and fitness and teamwork.

All students take subjects in each of those three realms.

Now! – let’s dive in here. Perhaps we have a charter school where the school’s founder has a philosophy and vision which includes an all-encompassing musical emphasis.. It happens to be compulsory. Might it look like this? I shall bullet point my way ahead:

• music for all
• a culture of enthusiasm
• non-vocational aims
• class tuition
• participation for all
• lessons in the timetable
• full participation in group and solo activities
• no examinations
• no theory tuition in classes
• practical performances compulsory

This looks to me like a perfect platform for all students to climb up however many rungs they so desire in building on a musical life ignited in an exciting school environment.

How might this come to be?

The interesting thing about the ‘model’ I’ve just outlined is – it existed in the 1930s in Dunedin. The headmaster at this school – the King Edward Technical College (KETC) – was W G Aldridge who, when he became principal, found the school had no daily assembly, no songs, no bands and no choirs. It had no music. So he hired one Vernon Griffiths a music teacher.

In his mind, music was part of an all-important ‘aesthetic education’ which competed for timetable space instead of being relegated to an out-of-class hobby. So to advance Aldridge’s vision, Vernon Griffiths introduced an all-student musical framework as I have outlined above in that list of bullet points. And in a short time the musical prowess, creative energy and performance skills of KETC students was the talk of Dunedin and beyond.

The inspiration of a headmaster with a wide vision and an understanding of what makes people ready for the adult life ahead. This is where the potential of charter schools rests. It will be those individuals with a love of expansive knowledge; of a world in which happiness and a readiness for adult life are measured in how many activities, subjects and creative pursuits a student engages in; such students to have a positive attitude and a real interest. It won’t be about scoring 99% in maths or winning the 1st XV finals. The word ‘elite’ will be banned. And the love and respect for our fellow man will underpin the fibre of the school.

It’s been done before in the 1930s. Let’s bring it back.