(We just put this out as a press release)

Unique Confab for Radical Alternatives Led by Homeschooler

It was 2003. Isaac Graves had quit school to become a homeschooler and intern for an alternative education organization. After helping them run an international conference of educational alternatives to approach Jerry Mintz, director of the Alternative Education Resource Organization and said, “We should take advantage of the success of this conference and have our own AERO conference, and I can run it for you.” That was five years ago. Isaac was 16 years old and has been AERO’s conference director ever since.

As you might expect, the conference is unique. Many children and teenagers attend and participate. Prices are cery low. They meet at Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, using their dorms and cafeteria. Nevertheless, the conference attracts top line keynoters, who sometimes drastically reduce or donate their fees to the small nonprofit. Next year one of the keynoters will be Patch Addams. This year Debbie Meier, who started the small public schools revolution in New York City, will be one.

When Isaac was 18 he decided he should go to college, so, with no high school diploma, no GED, no SAT, just with his portfolio he was accepted into college with a scholarship. But he decided to put that off. He was too busy writing his first book, a director of democratic schools. He was also AERO’s webmaster and bookstore manager. Then he applied to teach at a new democratic school and was accepted to work half time. Now he is full time, as well as continuing with AERO’s work.

This year;s conference is from June 26-29. Among other things, it specializes in helping people start new learner-centered alternatives. People are coming from 30 states and several countries.

Also contact Jerry Mintz at Jerryaero@aol.com

Dear Folks at Education Revolution,

I continue to support AERO and am impressed with many of the things
the organization attempts to address. Lately however, I am becoming
more and more concerned about the awful state of the earth’s biosphere.
I am going to enclose a copy of a letter I sent to many of my
relatives about Global Warming recently. I will comment further at the
bottom of the page.

Dear Family,

“The sky is not actually falling”, said Chicken Little 2, “but it
is heating up tremendously.”

Probably all of you know me as someone whose concern for environmental
and social justice issues is greater than that of most folks. Having
watched very little TV and finding my information from alternative
sources for 3 decades has allowed me to learn things I would not have
learned if I had been plugged into mainstream media. As some of you
know, about a year and a half ago, I read Derrick Jensen’s book End
Game. It is way too long and needs editing, but overall, I think he
makes some strong points. I wish there was a Cliff’s Notes version of
the book because I think much of what Jensen describes is important to
face and talk about. In a nutshell using an “ism”, I could call him an
anti-civilizationist, but he and his ideas are more complex than that.

Recently, in the last six months, I started reading the blog and
website of Carloyn Baker, a counselor and history teacher at a
community college in New Mexico. She’s about late 50s or early 60s.
She seems to be friends with Jensen and many of the other folks who
think that the end of “modern” civilization is inevitable and coming
soon, and that it is probably the best option among limited, “between a
rock and a hard place” type choices. I tend to agree. The state of
our biosphere is in tremendous trouble, largely induced by people (or
corporations, they’re people too, aren’t they?) doing things to make a
buck or make a living.

A couple months ago, I came across a document published by Friends of
the Earth and written by the directors of a couple of leading
environmental organizations in Australia. It is called quite bluntly,
CLIMATE CODE RED. it is a 75 page document with another 15 pages of
accolades from leading environmental and political folks from around
the world, and another 15 pages of footnotes. The authors explain some
fairly technical climate science in understandable ways and quote many
of the world’s leading climate scientists extensively. As you can
imagine, they are saying that we are in VERY BIG TROUBLE if we allow
business as usual and politics as usual to guide the world’s response
to this monumental global emergency. Here are some words from the
Climate Code Red website at http://www.climatecodered.net/

Climate policy is characterized by the habituation of low
expectations and a culture of failure. There is an urgent need to
understand global warming and the tipping points for dangerous impacts
that we have already crossed as a sustainability emergency,
that takes us beyond the politics of failure-inducing compromise. We
are now in a race between climate tipping points and political tipping
points.

Since most of you are parents and care about young people, or are
fairly young yourself and likely to live far into this century, I think
we will especially relate to the comment of this person after she read
Climate Code Red:

Kirsten Kennedy
Kirsten Kennedy is a member of Pine Rivers Climate Action Network, a
mother, teacher and environmentalist.

When our children explain to their own children the history of the
early 21st century, will they tell a story of deterioration, despair,
and a planet out of control? Or a story of repair, renewal, and united
global endeavour? As we face the future of our planet and the survival
of our kind, we are at a critical junction in time. We have the
knowledge. We have the power. We have the resources. We just need the
motivation. “Climate Code Red” is a wake up call that we can’t ignore.
Here is the science that shows us that we can’t keep carrying on with
“business as usual”. Indeed, if we did just that, future generations
would never forgive us. This book should get your alarm bells ringing!
Turn off your big screen TV in your air-conditioned house and do
something that will make the world a better place. Now is the time. The
world is waiting for you.

As you can imagine, I’d like you to check out the website and read
some of the document. If the climate scientists whose work is sited in
the document are to be believed, time is of the essence and we have a
massive amount of work to do to change the way industries, utilities,
and governments operate, and regular people live their lives. I am
quite torn, because if I thought enough will and chutzpah could be
directed at the monumental climate change problems (and assorted other
environmental problems) immediately, and if I figured that we citizens
of the world could quickly end capitalism and put it on the compost
pile, and come up with a benign, participatory, democratic economic
system (or more likely a variety of different interesting economic
systems), extremely fast, then I would think it urgent to do all I can
to influence people to get involved in this huge issue. As it is, I
don’t believe there is enough interest in the topic of environmental
destruction in general or global warming specifically. Folks in the
modern societies and in the not so modern societies, seem to think they
have plenty to do just to cope with the myriad tasks of daily living.

So I am not optimistic about there being a groundswell of interest in
doing whatever it takes to cool down our planet to a safe temperature.
In fact, I doubt if this email will get even 1/3 of all of you reading
it to even go the the website and read a few pages of the document. I
try to consider myself a pragmatist.

However, the issues are not going to go away. If we don’t address
them head on today, they will still be with us three or four years
from now and the situation will be significantly more dire. Unless the
economy collapses in the next three or four years (and I certainly
think it may), and civilization as we have known it is just history,
then I think the global warming issue will be literally screaming at us
by then. I’d say there are excellent odds that most species,
including humans, will have become toast on a parched planet by the end
of this century. A very grim thought to be sure, but a real
possibility, and from what I read, maybe a probability if we don’t
change course drastically and immediately.

If you do decide to read some or all of the document, or even if you
decide not to do so, I welcome your thoughts.

As always, I send you firm wishes in an increasingly wobbly world.

Love,

Sandy

So it’s me again writing to Ed Rev. The point of writing is to get
your input about reaching young people, especially teenagers. Any
teenager (and especially ones who tend to understand and value science)
who reads Climate Code Red will almost certainly be quite alarmed. The
planet has a high probability of becoming unlivable in the next 60
years, before a teenager would reach the age of 80. The picture
painted by the document is so vivid and scary, even though its authors
seem to try to not be too vivid or scary.
A teenager who reads the document is likely to talk about it with her
/ his friends and family, and do so in quite passionate and serious
ways. After all, it is the young people who will inherit the mess we
adults have made (and are continuing to make) of the biosphere. Most
kids who read the document are likely to get others to read it. Some
may just get tremendously depressed and some may commit suicide. The
document is that powerful. But if 20% of the high school age kids in
this country were to read Climate Code Red, they would undoubtedly find
it incredibly alarming and want to take action. How can an adult,
whether it is a parent, school board member, mayor, corporate exec, or
senator not listen to a group of informed, concerned, and outraged
teenagers who are trying to make the case for treating Climate Code Red
as the major emergency of their lifetime? A million teenagers who have
read the document could become a serious force for changing our society
in smarter directions quickly. And they would undoubtedly interact
with their peers around the world.

Although there are lots and lots of other serious social justice
issues and environmental issues as we approach not just Peak OIl, but
what Richard Heinberg calls Peak Everything, I think the Global Warming
issue is the grandmommy of them all. If we don’t cool the planet QUITE
soon, I think humans and just about all the other species are doomed.
So what are your thoughts? Have you read any or all of Climate Code
Red? As folks who interact with young people and their parents and try
to create societal changes that are more fair and humane for kids, do
you think this topic is worth promoting?

I’d appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

Sincerely,

Sandy Turner
Redwood Valley CA

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/education/edlife/antioch.html?pagewanted=1

This is an in depth article that tries to explain why Antioch Univertsity is closing after all. I think we need to look at it to understand what the pitfalls were that they fell into.

Personally I’m sad because not only did I get my MAT from Antioch, but I met Arthur Morgan, who founded the college in its present form.

I also got my BA from Goddard, which closed its regular undergraduate program several years ago to focus on a series of low residency intensive programs. We were furious at the time but now it appears to look like they were ahead of the curve.

Jerry

Please show your support for our blog by registering as a user and posting comments on the articles to let us know what you think!

Also, please visit our other sites:

Education Revolution - The AERO official website and bookstore.

The Online Directory of Democratic Education - AERO’s online directory of democratic schools and resources, as maintained by Isaac Graves and Dana Bennis.

Right click and click save as if you would like to view/print in full size.
Alternatively, you may click the image for a larger view.

By MAURA J. CASEY

In 1662, the colonists of Hartford accused 39-year-old Mary Sanford of witchcraft. Based on evidence — drinking wine and dancing around a bonfire — the court pronounced her guilty “for not having the feare of God before thyne eyes.” Sanford was hanged, leaving behind five children and a shaken husband who was later acquitted of similar charges.

More than three centuries later, Sanford’s descendants, 14-year-old Addie Avery and her mother, Debra, of New Milford, Conn., have petitioned the State Legislature to exonerate their distant grandmother and 10 other people executed for witchcraft. The fight has taught them something, perhaps more than they wanted to know, about the mob mentality.

The Averys did not always know they had a forebear accused of being a witch. A relative told them of their lineage and Sanford’s fate before a 2005 lecture on the Connecticut colony’s witch trials, which were sparked by widespread hysteria long before the better-known Salem witch trials of 1692. The lecture led to research, and the Averys took the first small steps toward asking the Legislature for exoneration. Along the way, they have learned what comes of taking a public stand.

Addie, who is home-schooled, researched every witch case in the colony. She was surprised to learn that all but two of the executed were women. Community leaders had presided over trials where the accused were usually the least educated and the least powerful. Women fit that bill nicely.

(Not much has changed there. Of the 170 people Connecticut has executed in over 300 years, only one was a college graduate, said Lawrence B. Goodheart, a University of Connecticut professor of history.)

Soon, the Averys’ lobbying attracted the support of other descendants of those who were accused. But critics spoke out, too, lashing out on Internet blogs. Ms. Avery was shaken to read the harsh comments, which reminded her of the mob frenzy that her ancestor faced. “The world has changed, but people haven’t,” she said.

Addie said she got a new education when she decided to publicly defend her ancestor. To her mother’s amazement, the attacks didn’t bother the suddenly thick-skinned teenager. “There are worse things than mockery,” Addie said. “Now, I’m not afraid to stand up when I see something wrong.”

Connecticut is slow to admit fault. It is not likely to soon join such states as Massachusetts and Virginia in acknowledging the injustice done to those accused in the witch hunts. A legislative committee passed on the issue this year.

But the prospect of returning to the Legislature next year, attending hearings and beginning the process all over again doesn’t seem to bother the Averys, least of all Addie. It may have taken more than 340 years, but finally someone is speaking up for Mary Sanford.

“I’ve discovered myself by honoring Mary,” Addie said.

BY HOWARD MARTIN KATZOFF
Howard Martin Katzoff, who has been teaching since 1968, recently retired from the New York City public schools.

April 11 2008

Teacher tenure is, once again, a hot issue. Lawmakers are deciding what character qualities and professional skills earn a teacher a permanent job. For some, the answer is simplistic: link a teacher’s tenure to student test scores.

The complete article can be viewed at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-opfritop5645417apr11,0,4005821.story

Below you will find our latest e-newsletter sent March 10th, 2008.

Alternative Education Resource Organization - www.EducationRevolution.org

Dear Education Revolution E-Newsletter Readers:
If you have trouble viewing this newsletter, visit www.edrev.org/fre.html for the online version.

Table of Contents:
1) AERO Book Review Contest
2) Jobs, Conferences, Hall of Fame, Etc.

1) AERO Book Review Contest
We would like our readers to write a paragraph about their favorite AERO book, why they like it, and what kind of impact it had on them. We will publish the best one for each book on the site for that book with the byline of the reviewer. The writers will also receive a certificate for 50% off of the book of their choice. To submit your paragraph just reply to this e-newsletter or write to JerryAERO@aol.com

2) Jobs, Conferences, Hall of Fame, Etc.
AERO has some features for the visitors to our website that we sometimes forget to tell you about. For example:

Jobs: All AERO members can post free job ads at the following site. This includes teachers looking for jobs and schools offering jobs at member alternative schools:
http://www.edrev.org/jobs.html

Conferences: We keep a running list of conferences and events at the following site:
http://www.edrev.org/conferences.html

Hall of Fame: We have an extensive list of people who have been nominated as inspirational to them at the following site. Readers can nominate more if you don’t see your mentor or inspiration listed.
http://www.edrev.org/halloffame.html

Articles on Alternative Education you might find useful:
http://www.edrev.org/articles.html

Research on Alternative Education: This site is continuously updated by staff member Dana Bennis. If you have research to add you can contact him at dana.bennis@yahoo.com
http://www.edrev.org/research.html

Alternative Education Projects Seeking Funding: You can add your project to this site or direct someone there who is looking for worthy projects to fund.
http://www.edrev.org/projects.html

SEND THIS TO SOMEONE ELSE/span>
We now have over 7,500 readers, all people who have contacted AERO directly!
Is there someone you know who would benefit from the information in these dispatches? Please forward this one to them and have them visit the AERO Web site at www.educationrevolution.org and sign up for the free e-newsletter.

Jerry Mintz
Education Revolution E-News
Alternative Education Resource Organization
417 Roslyn Rd., Roslyn Hts., NY 11577, USA
(516) 621-2195 / (800) 769-4171 (Toll-Free in U.S./Canada)
Fax: 516 625-3257
Email: info@educationrevolution.org

http://www.EducationRevolution.org

Contact Info: Tel: 1-800-769-4171 & 1-516-621-2195
Fax: 1-516-625-3257 / E-Mail: info@educationrevolution.org
417 Roslyn Road, Roslyn Heights, NY 11577

Alternative Education Resource Organization - www.EducationRevolution.org

Dear Education Revolution E-Newsletter Readers:

If you have trouble viewing this newsletter, visit www.edrev.org/fre.html for the online version.

Table of Contents:

1) New AERO Blog

2) DemocraticEducation.com - A New Website by AERO

3) AERO Conference: Still Low Rates!; Join the print mailing list today

4) A Student’s Trip to New Orleans

1) New AERO Blog

We’re happy to announce that we’ve started a new AERO blog. You can post your comments on it and we hope to update it regularly. Please try it out and send some comments. It will help us get the feel for how to use it best. So far we’ve posted the USA Today editorial we wrote and a TV show we did that is on YouTube.

You can go directly to the blog here:

http://educationrevolution.wordpress.com

or click the blog button on www.EducationRevolution.org

2) DemocraticEducation.com - A New Website by AERO!

We are pleased to announce that www.DemocraticEducation.com is now live!  This website serves as the virtual home for The Directory of Democratic Education as well as a location providing unique articles, essay, links, and resources on democratic education.  All that said, this website has infinite potential and any additional resources, links, updates, and corrections would be most welcomed.  Please consider adding a link to your school or organization’s website to help spread this great free resource!

Here is what you’ll find on the website:

* Detailed contact information for over 200 schools and programs representing 29 countries worldwide.

* Detailed descriptions and overviews for over 75 of these schools and programs.

* Listings and descriptions for over 25 organizations that promote and support democratic education.

* Listings of 18 selected colleges and universities supporting democratic education.

* Listings of conferences addressing democratic education worldwide

* A comprehensive resource list of over 60 books on democratic education.

* Essays and articles on the theory and practice of democratic education.

* Listings and information on former influential schools

* Listings of magazines addressing democratic education

* Listings of documentaries, films, and television shows addressing democratic education

* Listings of blogs addressing democratic education

3) AERO Conference: Still Low Rates!; Join the Print Mailing List Today

Register for the AERO conference by March 30th and you’ll receive a discount that is 25% off the final registration price!). Register and find out more about rates today at http://www.aeroconference.com/registration.htm.

Join the print mailing list today!  Stay informed outside of the virtual world by e-mail your name, address, and school/organization (if applicable) to aeroconference@gmail.com.  You will receive approximately one piece of mail every 1-2 months.

The 5th Annual AERO Conference: “Moving From Ideas to Practice”

This year’s AERO conference will take place June 26th - 29th at Russell Sage College in Troy, NY.  In addition to our theme, you’ll find many new and exciting elements at the conference as well as many of the familiar highlights that make the event what it is.  Our keynote speakers this year are Deborah Meier, Matt Hern, Donna Barker, Mary Leue, Molly Nichols & Wesley Clark, and Khalif Williams.  Detailed information about the speakers can be found online at:

http://www.aeroconference.com/speakers.htm

Highlights include a beautiful opening ceremony featuring Global Village Photographer Connie Frisbee Houde, International School & Organization Fair & Exhibition featuring dozens and dozens of some of the most interesting and unique alternative schools and organization worldwide (yours can be included!), Low Registration Costs, Free Child Care!, Open Workshop Space (attendee led workshop time), HUGE Bookstore with over 125 titles!, “How to Grow a School” AERO’s Start a School 101 3-Part Workshop Series, Morning & Afternoon Tea & Networking Time, Keynote Speaker-Led Workshops, Featured Workshops with Pat Montgomery (founder of Clonlara Home Based Education Program), Chris Mercogliano (author of In Defense of Childhood, Teaching the Restless), Charles Eisenstein (author of The Ascent of Humanity), Randy Gaschler (author of Parent-Driven Schools), Tim Seldin (president of The Montessori Foundation and International Montessori Council), Ron Miller (author What Are Schools For? and Free Schools, Free People) and many more!, Book Signings, Talent Show & Open Mic, Dancing, Lots of Student Participation, and so much more!

4) A Student’s Trip to New Orleans

This story was written by Alex Berger, a 16 year old Brooklyn Free School student. He made this trip as part of his school work, something possible in democratic schools.

I am a junior at the Brooklyn Free School. Two weeks ago I took a trip to New Orleans with Nick, a graduate from BFS, to do volunteer work for people affected by Hurricane Katrina. What we found there was shocking. Excluding very few areas, we could not walk a single block without seeing at least 3 empty lots or abandoned houses. Trailers in front of houses and closed businesses are a commonplace sight. Of all the public schools I saw, the majority of them were closed. There are blocks of public housing, beautiful brick buildings which were not flooded and hardly damaged in the storm, that are being demolished to make way for mixed income housing, reducing the number of low income houses by the thousands. Under one highway hundreds of homeless residents are sleeping in tents and on mattresses, they were previously in a park in front of the New Orleans City Hall protesting the government’s response to the disaster, but were tear gassed and forced out.

In the 8 days we spent there, we were volunteering with ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. ACORN is the nation’s largest community organization of low to moderate income families, with over 850 chapters in 80 cities throughout the country. While in New Orleans Nick and I worked on three different houses in three different neighborhoods, completely gutting and clearing everything out of them, a process that normally costs at least $3,000 per house. We met two of the owners and they were incredibly grateful, buying us drinks and cheeseburgers. ACORN provides free services to residents whose properties were damaged in the storm, who cannot afford to make the necessary repairs on their own. ACORN lobbied against eminent domain abuse saving much of the Lower 9th Ward. Additionally, ACORN has built the first new houses in the Lower 9th Ward in 30 YEARS.

My experiences in New Orleans have left a great impression on me. Despite all the problems, lack of progress and government support, there is reason to be hopeful for New Orleans’ future. Seeing all the volunteers coming from all over the country, many for the second and third time, is inspiring. Seeing residents who have returned and are rebuilding their lives, hearing their stories and their extreme gratitude for the work we were doing, is a heart-wrenching feeling. It gave me hope to see one community in the Lower 9th Ward, where no public schools are available, come together and convert a warehouse into a school and community center of their own. New Orleans has the desire and will to rebuild, but it is a big task, and they need as much of our support as we can give.

(Alex returned again to work again in New Orleans during school vacation. If readers want to support this and future work there, reply to this e newsletter and we’llput you in touch with Alex).

SEND THIS TO SOMEONE ELSE

We now have over 7,500 readers, all people who have contacted AERO directly!

Is there someone you know who would benefit from the information in these dispatches?  Please forward this one to them and have them visit the AERO Web site at www.educationrevolution.org and sign up for the free e-newsletter.

Jerry Mintz

Education Revolution E-News

Alternative Education Resource Organization

417 Roslyn Rd., Roslyn Hts., NY 11577, USA

(516) 621-2195  /  (800) 769-4171 (Toll-Free in U.S./Canada)

Fax: 516 625-3257

Email: info@educationrevolution.org

http://www.EducationRevolution.org

This is a TV interview I did in July.