Rationale for Maine Enterprise Schools explained!

If you can find 11 minutes in the next day or two, I urge you to find time to listen to/watch Ken Robinson's animated dissection of the degree to which our current system of education is profoundly unsuited for our times and our children.

http://www.youtube.com/user/theRSAorg

Many of you have heard me or others say many of the same things - that batch processing kids deadens their motivation, that natural curiosity gets labeled ADHD, and that we make a false and damaging distinction between academic learning and hands-on learning. My favorite part, if were not so sad, would be when he shares the study that demonstrates the degree to which, over time, our schools greatly reduce the natural capacity for divergent thinking that almost every child is a "genius" at.

I'll be showing this video everywhere I can from here on out - Sir Kenneth elucidates the intellectual underpinnings of what we're trying to do with Maine Enterprise Schools better than I ever could - and it makes me that much more eager to be part of the creation of a new system, were the beauty of an education driven by deep, lived experience with the arts, ecosystems, and the real work of humans (and their machines) is available to every single child, regardless of place or parentage.

Impact Investing

NY Times article, fowarded by Russel Libby of MOFGA, points out that while "the notion that for-profit companies with a social mission at their core could constitute an “asset class” is fairly new," the sector is poised for "explosive growth."

Plenty of challenges, not the least of which is "the mindset of many investors." But the article illustrates that the kinds of social investing/venture philanthropy strategies that MES is creating are out there, are growing, and will have an impact.

Name Change, Partnership, Temporary Website

Maine Enterprise Schools has dropped the Farm from our name and we're entering into partnership with Learning Works to jointly develop the MES concept. We're working on a new website, but until we get there, this blog will serve (along with our facebook site) to update folks. The links above lead to various aspects of our work to date. To the right is our Innovation Maine education blog (to which we're posting regularly now) and the MaineFarmSchool.org site, along with an assortment of links that inform our work.

Let us know what you think...comment or email John at jdanieri@mainefarmschool.org