In an age of standardized testing and statewide curriculum
requirements, teachers are expected to cram as much information
as possible into their students. Imagine a school where students
are given free rein do whatever interests them, whether that be
studying, singing, playing video games or just hanging out. Such
is life at free schools, which don’t have compulsory curricula.
Instead, students are in charge of their own learning, according
to Chris Mercogliano, retired director and former teacher at
Albany Free School. "The model that traditional and conventional
schools operate out of — the model that says that there’s some
fixed body of knowledge that all children have to learn all at a
certain point in time — that model is just wrong,” Mercogliano
said. “That’s not how kids learn. That’s not how kids develop.”
At free schools, students decide which classes to take — or
whether to take classes at all. “No one’s going to tell a free-
school kid what he or she has to learn. There’s no curriculum.
The student