Scholé news April 2018

Dear friends of Scholé, I would be delighted if you looked at our newly opened website from time to time.

And perhaps enriched it with a contribution of your own: concrete, positive examples that give people the courage to be free are especially welcome!

NEW WEBSITE: INITIATIVE-BILDUNGSFREIHEIT (German)

A lot has happened in the last few weeks: there was the first educational freedom meeting at the Markhof, organised through Pioneers of Change, at which everyone agreed how badly an alternative to the current school system is needed, above all for highly sensitive people (children AND adults!).

But within the system, too, more and more people are suffering from the prevailing conditions and would rather start a real change in education today than tomorrow. This was impressively demonstrated to me in a conversation with Josef Hörndler, the inspector of compulsory schools for the Mostviertel region, and the incredibly open-minded head of the primary school in Allhartsberg, to which an unschooling mother took me last week. We were received extremely warmly and had a full two hours to talk with them both about the concerns of unschoolers and our wish for educational freedom for ALL children. As we left, Josef Hörndler even gave each of us a copy of his book “Es geht ums Ganze” (It’s about the whole thing), with a personal dedication.

This feeling that everything is at stake seems to be gripping many people at the moment: half-hearted reforms are no longer enough to paper over the cracks in our social systems – such reforms are already out of date before they can be implemented. Even so, most people still find it hard to think really BIG… Yesterday I met the education spokesperson of NEOS, currently the only parliamentary party really trying to develop innovative approaches to education. What convinced me most was their idea of introducing an alternative model alongside the current system of teaching: people with the courage for more self-determination could then vote with their feet against the “safe” old model and for the “open” new one.

But in my view the goals of the new model are not yet set high enough, and that is exactly why they are in danger of being watered down beyond recognition in the parliamentary debate… The demand for genuine educational freedom, by contrast, could mobilise undreamt-of energies in everyone affected! However, it would have to be won through the highest courts, so that it cannot be reduced to a political football between the parties. As things stand, that is the line we will be pursuing in the coming months.

I also hope for effective support for our plans from quite a different quarter: in Switzerland, 17 years ago on Easter Sunday, a girl with a multidimensional consciousness was born. She calls herself Christina von Dreien and appeared in public for the first time in 2017, after finishing school. One of her most pressing concerns is changing the education system, because the children of the new age cannot cope with the old system of coercion any more than the school can cope with them. Even if the rationalists among you may not be able or willing to follow me here: I trust this delicate girl, who has already published two books together with her mother Bernadette, more than anyone else to make my vision of “leisure for heart and mind” come true…

WEBSITE: CHRISTINA VON DREIEN (German)

Looking forward to the undreamt-of possibilities that could open up, I send you my warm regards, Alexandra

Book tip – “Lernen ist wie Atmen” (Learning is like breathing)

Together with two unschooling mothers, Gudrun Totschnig and Sigrid Haubenberger, we published it ourselves.

We all feel that the time is ripe for this many-voiced account of how unschooling can be lived in practice. Let the reading sample inspire you, or order your own copy on the GAIA marketplace, with a 10 % discount for members. The book is in German.

Reading sample (German) BUY THE BOOK