Herbert Kohl 2010 AERO Conference Keynote (VIDEO)

October 4, 2010 at 7:51 pm | Posted in AERO, AERO Conference, AERO Online Video Series | 2 Comments
Tags: AERO, AERO Conference, Deb Meier, Deborah Meier, Herb Kohl, Herbert Kohl, Khalif Williams, Linda Stout, Melia Dicker, Riane Eisler, Turning Points

Herbert Kohl following his address to the 7th annual AERO conference at his home in Point Arena, CA

From conference director Isaac Graves:

In early June of this year, I had the pleasure of filming Herbert Kohl at his home in Point Arena, CA where he addressed the 7th annual AERO conference.  Below his you will find video of his address and answers to our members’ questions.  Herb has graciously agreed to answer any follow-up questions our attendees have (so comment away on this page!).  He sent along the following message prior to the conference:

“I want to send my greetings and support to everyone who will attend the AERO conference in Albany.  I believe gatherings like this as essential these days when decent, humane, creative, and compassionate education is marginalized and. In many places rooted out.  It was my intention to be with you and unfortunately, due to some personal circumstances I will not be traveling for a while.  However I want to express my solidarity with you and hope the meeting results in renewed energy to keep the struggle for decent education alive.”

Here are the twelve questions Herb answered during the Q&A session of his talk:

1)      What in your early learning experience set the foundation (perspectives, practices, etc.) that you have today about learning and teaching?

2)      Is public education in America still worth fighting for or should we concentrate (without totally giving up on) private school alternatives?

3)      What does Mr. Kohl think of the one-size-fits-all, standardized curriculum, extensive testing phase that our educational system is in now?

4)      What do you advise as schools like Jefferson County Open School face increasing pressure to perform on the state tests?

5)      What can parents or family of students in the public school do to better support their learning in spite of the current environment?

6)      Why do you think African Americans are not generally involved in alternative schools? …and is there hope that they will be a part of the effort to advance the development of public and private learning alternatives and part of the advancement and development of a desegregated and socio-economically diverse national movement of unconventional approaches to education which will help all students in our American schools?

7)      What do you see as the potential in the next decade for the educational alternatives movement to grow beyond its current status to a much larger movement, in light of the Obama administration’s reactionary educational policies?

8)      What do you think about the attitude that some education activists have regarding home schoolers and private alternative schoolers depleting the public school system of good students?

9)      Do you think that the work of homeschoolers and alternative schoolers are helping the public school system by creating good models?

10)  What would it take to truly train learning facilitators who will be courageous enough to liberate students to learn?

11)  What are some proven and effective ways of “teaching” character and social justice to people of all ages?

12)  In your essay in Turning Points, you mentioned how you are considering doing a book about the role sports plays in the psychological and social development of youngsters.  In brief, what is the role and what is a school’s responsibility in facilitating it?

Herbert Kohl is the author of more than forty books, including the bestselling classic 36 Children. A recipient of the National Book Award and the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, he was founder and first director of the Teachers & Writers Collaborative in New York City. He was just awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and his most recent publication is The Herb Kohl Reader.

Herb recently contributed to AERO’s new book, Turning Points: 35 Visionaries in Education Tell Their Own Stories.

Join us at the 8th annual AERO conference this year, “Transforming Education & Our World,” where Deborah Meier, Linda Stout, Riane Eisler, Melia Dicker, and Khalif Williams will keynote!  www.educationrevolution.org/conference.html

Part One:

2010 AERO Keynote – Herbert Kohl – Pt. 1

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Part Two:

2010 AERO Keynote – Herbert Kohl – Pt. 2

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Part Three:

2010 AERO Keynote – Herbert Kohl – Pt. 3

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Part Four:

2010 AERO Keynote – Herbert Kohl – Pt. 4

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