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Published: November 16th 2010
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For good measure
This isn't Green School. It's heaven. The top of a volcano in northern Bali. There are no walls. No bells. There isn't a cafeteria or Sysco-provided sustenance. There are no halls, lockers, or tiled floors. No windows leading out to concrete and traffic. No tired faces and distant gazes. No bottled passion or diminished expression. There are no rooms. Nothing at all to confine the imagination.
There is a mud pit. And a river. There is a hydro-vortex generator. There are gardens. There are students and there are teachers. They eat together. They eat organic food mostly grown on campus. There is bamboo. Nearly everything here is made from it.
Drums can be heard while students work on their multiplication tables. Some kids can be found chasing butterflies, others are imitating geckos, but all are digging for worms. Because all the classes have their own worm bins.
Parents chatter over raw food mango wraps at the warung (cafe), while in the distance a didgeridoo beckons the kindergarten kids into Aboriginal dance.
Students don't ever walk in line and there are places where shoes aren't allowed. The heart of school is one such place. It is exactly what the name suggests and is the coolest structure I've ever encountered.
The 5th
The Heart of School
Taken from the back. Inside it's all spiraling staircases and layers. Pretty incredible. graders are designing a chicken coop. The 3rd graders are planting a butterfly sanctuary. The 10th graders put a teepee up on the soccer field. But they weren't happy about it. It wasn't their idea.
In addition to Math, Science, and English there is Performing Arts and Physical Education. There is Global Awareness and Green Design. Kids can take Capuera or Yoga.
This is the Green School.
Depending on how you view life it's either perfect or it's not. Most will say it's not. The founders are rich. Their intentions aren't pure. The curriculum has holes. The hydro-electric isn't running. It's a school for the rich. An exclusive club. Like so much of life.
Others will see it as perfect. It's new. A necessary step in a different direction. An action that admits we're tired of accepting the status quo. It aspires to change the world and save the planet and all the other fantastic hyperbole.
Truly it feels like a superhero training ground. Like where Peter Pan would go to school. Where the students wear capes instead of cardigans.
So who am I? Captain Hook? And why am I here? Why is a
much better question. In fact it is that very question that has me waking up in another yurt in another woods at another school.
Why?
Why is this (full circle, arms spread wide) our reality? A world that frustrates and leaves us afraid of our own shadow. Politics that don't move. Medicine that doesn't heal. Economics that don't sustain. Religions that don't reveal. People that don't love. Education that doesn't teach.
Why?
We are creators of our own realities. Powerful beings. Yet we've dug ourselves a hole. A deep one. It wasn't you. Or I. But all of us. Creating ourselves out of what someone else says--and propagating fear. Afraid to look up at the distant light, afraid we'll never reach it. Afraid to look down at the darkness, afraid we'll never escape. And never looking inside. Inside. Deep inside-- where all the answers we'll ever need rest. Where fear gets checked at the door. Where change happens. Real change.
So...
In a place with no indoors, I'm spending most of my time inside. And I'm forcing the world to give me what I create.
Give me a school that provides tools and
The mud pit
Oh it's fun. A ton of fun. not answers. That connects language with math with art with science with the Earth. That allows the individual to use these tools to create their own experience. That connects people to each other and to our planet and our universe. That nurtures our freedom of expression.
Give me students who teach and teachers who listen. Give me paint on the floors and music in my ears. Give me bare feet and mud and gardens.
Give me a past that is past. A future that doesn't exist. And a present that is nothing more than a blank canvas.
Give me an opportunity to put my foot in this door. To volunteer. Develop a part of the program. Maybe create the Green Camp. To play outside while discovering inside.
It's where I am. It's Bali. It's not on the ocean. I spend little time traveling. I spend less time in the waves.
Is it perfect?
Yes.
Why?
I think it's time to ask-- why not?
(For much better photos and more info go to greenschool.org)
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anonymous
non-member comment
Amazing And beautifully said Brad. thank you so much for writting, sparks a light inside of me, one i;m sure you are sparking in many other beings blessed by your presence! Continue to share the journey PLEASE!!