ing out so much about the world.” Thousands of miles away, at a


new democratic preschool called The Patchwork School, in Louisville, Colorado, the same principles apply to even the youngest learners. On a recent day, a group of 5-year-olds held a vote and elected to spend the morn- ing crafting miniature cardboard cit- ies. Then their instructor, a precocious 5-year-old named Evan, led the way to the workroom, passing out paints, scissors, Popsicle sticks and glue as an adult watched quietly nearby. “Everyone here has a voice,” af-


firms Patchwork co-founder Elizabeth Baker, who was homeschooled in a democratic fashion herself. “If we can validate who they are as people now, they can go out into the world with confidence that their thoughts and opinions count.” But, will they be prepared for


that world?


Good Questions Will children, given the freedom,


choose to learn basic skills like read- ing and math? What will this revo- lutionary breed of students have to show a college entrance board if they have no test scores? And how will kids schooled with little structure and no hierarchy thrive in a professional world with so much of both? Skeptics abound, and they have pounced on such questions. Meanwhile, informal surveys of


democratic school graduates have yielded mixed answers. For his new book, Lives of Pas-


sion; School of Hope, Rick Posner, Ph.D., surveyed 431 alumni from the democratic Jefferson County Open School in Denver (one of the old- est public alternative schools in the country) and found that 91 percent went to college, 85 percent complet- ed degreed programs and 25 percent earned graduate degrees. Many lauded their K-12 education there: “Because of the school, I am much less influenced by the need to con- form and I’m not afraid to take risks,” said Adelle, a 1986 graduate who went on to become a project manager for an entertainment company.


12 Tucson


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