LLI0673 - The Alternative Education Movement of the 60s and 70s: Problems, Programs, and Impact
Course Description
In the 1960s, widespread discontent with the methods, structure, and curricula of traditional schooling led to the development of a movement by educators, students, and parents to provide alternative forms of education that were believed to be less alienating, more personally relevant, and more capable of promoting authentic learning. The result was a several decade long grand experiment in educational innovation in which many schools were created to apply and test the ideas of these reformers. Along the way, the alternative education movement significantly transformed our understanding of learning and what schools should look like, influencing some of what we see in education even today. In this seminar, we’ll examine the problems that led to the creation of this movement and learn about some of the innovations that were offered to solve these problems. Participants will learn about several particular alternative school programs (some of which still exist today) to discover more about how these innovations were applied and what they accomplished. We’ll also examine what we learned from this movement and its schools and programs, and how it’s affected educational practice since. As an added bonus, participants will get this guided tour through the alternative education movement from someone who was educated in two nationally recognized alternative education programs.
Instructor: Dr. Jason A. Beyer, Professor of Philosophy, Illinois Valley Community College