"Jewel of a School"; a PUBLIC school that encourages debate, freethinking & creativity

[Lorien]

I attended this school years ago, after also attending a very liberal private school. There was little difference between the two. Most of my classmates later went on to attend Harvard, Yale, Cornell, MIT...and the vast majority came from middle or working class families. Public schools CAN provide a very high quality education that engages their students and allows them to "think outside the box"

Jewel of a school
Now 30 years old, Columbus Alternative High School has evolved into a point of pride for the district


http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2008/04/27/CAHS.ART_ART_04-27-08_B1_HMA1JAK.html

It was a school with no home and barely enough students to justify its existence.

The curriculum -- with student-created courses of study and field trips to funeral homes -- was as odd as its students, who came because they didn't fit in at traditional schools.

A Dispatch reporter wrote early on that the city's first alternative high school "has the potential to become the district's crown jewel -- or to slip into obscurity."

(snip)


In his first year, the school held a spelling bee that sounded more like a pep rally.

"The atmosphere of this place, it was unlike any place I had been before," Fawcett said. "The students were cheering on the edge of their seats, cheering for someone who spelled a word correctly."

Today, critics call the school elitist.

Two of every three CAHS students are labeled as gifted -- a rate twice that of other Columbus high schools. It's the only district high school that offers the prestigious International Baccalaureate program.

Students still see themselves as rebels. They are proud that their school has no sports. Trophy displays overflow with chess-team awards. The cool kids wear choir robes, not football uniforms.

(snip)

At CAHS, disputes have a history of becoming lengthy intellectual debates.

W. Shawna Gibbs, a Columbus school-board member who graduated from Columbus Alternative in 1992, said her experience sparked a future in social activism.

As a member of the Black Cultural Awareness club, she helped organize a Black History Month assembly that included a controversial Malcolm X speech.

The assembly received a sour response from some classmates.

"What started as a small conversation in the hallway (spread) to the entire ninth grade," Gibbs said. "It was deep on a very touchy subject, but people didn't shrink, no matter how contentious the conversation got."

Then-Principal Jacqueline Ralls responded with an all-school assembly on race.

"You know you are creating independent thinkers," said Ralls. "So when they push the limit, and they do, you have to think of creative ways to channel it. … You open up the discussion."

[Beartracks]

1. Elitism: the jealous accusation of them who can't think good.

:rofl:

=========================

[villager]

2. that jumped out at me, too: "How dare they not be turned into drones!"

n/t

[Lorien]

3. Note the second paragraph:

"Columbus Alternative was radical in 1978, born into a struggling urban district in the thick of desegregation.

Early critics gave its nontraditional students a less euphemistic label -- the troublemakers."

Yep, that was us! Most are still radical lefties too. I only knew one repug when I was there- our only student from a wealthy family. I've known two others from other classes since, but that's it. The rest of us are still "troublemakers".

[DirkGently]

4. "The atmosphere." THAT is what needs to change in schools. Sense of common purpose.

I keep telling this dumb anecdote because it hit me so hard: Supposedly in Japanese schools, the students stay after to clean the place. Refinish damaged furniture. Make it nice.

Can you imagine?

I know of middle school teachers here who come in the middle of the summer to paint not only their own classrooms (almost a given) but even the bathrooms. Because NO ONE will do it otherwise. All by themselves.

Speaks volumes, I think.

[Lorien]

5. At my elementary school we were required to keep our classrooms clean

I had one teacher from Kenya who would announce loudly at the end of every day "Students! Now you pick the floor!" and we'd spring into action. Our parents built the playground and would do repairs on whatever building our school leased that year. All of the students and teachers went to summer camp in the woods together each year, and a few parents would tag along. We were a tightly knit group.

[DirkGently]

7. Sounds like a great school. And look, it turned out a Lorien. We need more of both.

:)

[Lorien]

8. Aw, thanks DirkGently!

:blush: :hi: :loveya:

[DonCoquixote]

6. What is sad is

Many who want kids to have the same education also come from the education colleges that are supposed to be leftist.

[Lorien]

10. Isn't any secular college considered "leftist" by the repugs and MSM? nt

[DonCoquixote]

12. not quite

I am talking union suppression colleges that identify themselves loudly as leftist and voted for nader in 2000, yet spoke of method as if it was scripture, this was the college that I went to, and turned me off on being an education major.

[Lorien]

13. Since Nader has always been strongly pro-union, that just doesn't make any sense

and did the college specifically endorse a candidate? What are the names of some of these "Leftist" colleges (I can think of a few that I might call "Leftist", but I can count them all on one hand).

[kestrel91316]

9. This school to be targeted for attack/closure by the RW in 3...2...1...

[WinkyDink]

11. "Alternative."