THE Freedom Academy is hardly a new concept. It was called the Open Education Movement and was introduced in the 1960’s and 70’s. Small teacher managed classrooms were out, replaced by wide open spaces which allowed students to interact freely with others from any other group.
Larry Cuban, a professor emeritus at Stanford University, wrote in 2004: “(There were) No whole-class lessons, no standardized tests, and no detailed curriculum. The best of the open classrooms had planned settings where children came in contact with things, books, and one another at “interest centers” and (supposedly) learned at their own pace with the help of the teacher (what is referred to by Andy Uyboco as facilitators).
At the time it sounded great, but within a few years (bearing in mind that the definition of “few” is between one and three), the concept had failed miserably. And it has never been attempted since.
Nowhere.
Why, one may well ask. There are many reasons. Perhaps, one is the understanding that a child is a child, unable to make proper decisions as yet. Secondly, there is the question of structure, without which as any engineer, social or otherwise will tell you is an absolute must for any project to succeed. Then there’s the need for monitoring to enable necessary adjustments or corrections.
Educators and teachers alike realized that while the teacher–led classroom approach may have needed tweaking, children while they remained students needed to be taught, advised, encouraged and motivated. Reviews were necessary, not just desired.
Exams were there to see how well students understood what they needed or wanted to learn, thereby allowing for curriculum modification to meet the needs of an ever changing society.
So, yes, the Freedom Academy’s time has not yet come. What would be helpful in Philippine institutes of learning from the primary to tertiary level is for students to be taught how to think logically instead of going the memorization route in order solely to pass an exam.
There are still too many university graduates who know very little about the subjects in which they supposedly majored. This results in businesses having to invest more heavily in training (actually teaching) their employees. Of course less praying and more studying in schools may also be helpful.
“Non scolae sed vitae discimus” (We do not learn for school, but for life.)