I have complicated thoughts on public education, especially here in America. My education was entirely public, but I matriculated before No Child Left Behind turned many public schools into factories for teachers teaching to the standardized test. I’m proud of my public education – I had great teachers K-12 and great professors at my small liberal-arts state college. But I know many people see the system as broken and (just my opinion) No Child Left Behind isn’t helping.

Why bring this up? Because The Guardian has an interesting profile of a school in Scotland, partially started by Tilda Swinton and some of her friends. The school is called Drumduan Upper School and Tilda’s kids go there. There are no grades, no tests, no desks and “no hierarchies.” Students call their teachers by their first names. Students go outside to sit in a circle and talk about politics and bees. Singing is encouraged whenever possible. And for what it’s worth, cell phones are not allowed. You can read the full piece here. Some assorted quotes from Tilda:

Tilda on the art-based school: “There’s no grading, no testing at all. My children are now 17, and they will go through this school without any tests at any time, so it’s incredibly art-based, practical learning. For example, they learn their science by building a Canadian canoe, or making a knife, or caramelising onions. And they’re all happy 17-year-olds. I can’t believe it – happy and inspired.”

Tilda thinks kids need the freedom to be bored: Tilda refers to this as “each chain on each moving bicycle” in contrast to the widespread practice of teaching children as if they’re all on the same bike. “I didn’t have a particularly toxic education, but my chain was not on my bicycle. I managed to coast down a few hills and got off and walked the rest of the way. Whenever we have a bit of a distilling of what it is we want these years to be for these young people we end up saying the same thing, which is: ‘Know thyself, number one.’”

Her 17-year-old kids, Xavier and Honor: “I said to these two at the beginning of the school: ‘You’ve got three years – just try it all on for size.’ Honor’s school project is interpretative dance – she’s never done dance in her life. It’s going to be really interesting.”

[From The Guardian]

I pursed my lips and shook my head at several times during this piece. Don’t get me wrong, I agree with many of the sentiments – children should have the freedom to be bored, the time to simply think, “chillax” (as Tilda says) and reflect without the incessant buzz of technology. I’m also all for field trips and Socratic seminar-esque classrooms. But singing all the time? NO GRADES? No tests? Yes, kids should be encouraged to embrace the artistic side of life. But they should also know trigonometry and how to code. It feels like these kids will never get STEM jobs, which is a choice made for them by their parents who wanted their kids to get an artsy-fartsy “education.”

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.