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New Northside Headquarters

03.05.2012  |  Comments Off

New Headquarters: Afterhours at Buena Vista Coffee, 1501 Buena Vista Street Guest Speaker Gatherings, Tuesdays @ 7:00 Come join us Tuesday nights for excellent food and thoughtful discussion centered broadly around, what Sir Albert Howard calls ... Continue Reading »

Snowy_School_Bus

2011: Top Stories in American Education

12.23.2011  |  Comments Off

This was a hopeful year in the world of education, here is my brief best-of list. It is by no means comprehensive, let me know what I missed. 10.  Senate Hearings on For-Profit Schools                     While ... Continue Reading »

BLUE_1

An Open Letter

12.20.2011  |  Comments Off

Fellow Students, Five months from now, our country's college seniors will smile and grab their diplomas at graduation. They will be part of the most in-debt graduating class our country has ever seen, faced ... Continue Reading »

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Humanizing Technology

11.29.2011  |  Comments Off

For some time now I have been considering the difficult capability that our technologies have to simultaneously improve and destroy us. For every helpful visit we make to Wikipedia.com, we waste time on ... Continue Reading »

mural(2)

A Needs-Met Curriculum

10.11.2011  |  Comments Off

Last night at dinner, I heard about a small school in Mexico from a former Calvin College professor, who now teaches at a small college on a Native American reservation. I believe he ... Continue Reading »

017063830final

sports AND higher education?

10.06.2011  |  Comments Off

According to their website the core purpose of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is: "to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher ... Continue Reading »

MeritBadgeMainGraphic

Badges: the Boy & Girl Scouting of Higher Education

09.27.2011  |  Comments Off

The Mozilla Foundation has launched a new initiative to organize a framework for alternative education accreditation. Their project, "Open Badge Infrastructure", seeks to establish a new standard for validating non-traditional learning experiences. There's a ... Continue Reading »

studentloan

Default!!

09.13.2011  |  Comments Off

According to the New York Times, student loan default rates have risen sharply this year, another sign that the future of higher education is in question. Each month it is becoming increasingly obvious ... Continue Reading »

Ask about the purpose.

08.29.2011  |  Comments Off

The latest efforts to move "higher education" forward have been reactionary, at best. Here are the calls they make: 1. We must liberate the content! Open Source everything! What content? Who is paying for its ... Continue Reading »

Hhmeeting

The Higher Education of Harry Potter

06.20.2011  |  Comments Off

This past week held the official end of our first major public activity as an organization: operating "The General Will" bar/schoolroom in collaboration with the Mattress Factory and Glenn Loughran. We had some ... Continue Reading »

A Simple Question

06.10.2011  |  Comments Off

Rather than resorting to crazy payment models like this human capital dividend idea, can't we just ask this simple question? Perhaps, when we have asked this, we can take a step back and try ... Continue Reading »

Pamphlet #1

06.02.2011  |  Comments Off

To begin our time at "The General Will", the current headquarters for The Saxifrage School, we worked with Glenn Loughran to hurriedly create a pamphlet to describe our ideas and work. It went against ... Continue Reading »

High (Low) Point University

04.26.2011  |  Comments Off

So, this morning, my friend Dustin Stiver directed me to check out a somewhat absurd school in N.C. that has been particularly successful in fund-raising recently: High Point University. Here's a failed paragraph from ... Continue Reading »

Sharing! Exactly!

04.18.2011  |  Comments Off

Wow, so I just read this article over @fastcompany magazine, one of my favorite ideas-sources as of late, and it resonates strongly with The Saxifrage School concept and its connection to larger economic ... Continue Reading »

conservation is good work.

04.15.2011  |  Comments Off

Two sources this week have reminded me of further problems of cost and debt in Higher Ed; problems that are beyond the cost of tuition, room, or board. First, the NYT just published a ... Continue Reading »

Educating a Liberator

04.10.2011  |  Comments Off

Upon spending a few minutes in the Abraham Lincoln Exhibition--Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian History Museum--I could not help but be attracted to the President's story. His one-room log cabin house, His slave-owning in-laws, ... Continue Reading »

studentloan

Default!!

09.13.2011  |  Comments Off

According to the New York Times, student loan default rates have risen sharply this year, another sign that the future of higher education is in question. Each month it is becoming increasingly obvious ... Continue Reading »

High (Low) Point University

04.26.2011  |  Comments Off

So, this morning, my friend Dustin Stiver directed me to check out a somewhat absurd school in N.C. that has been particularly successful in fund-raising recently: High Point University. Here's a failed paragraph from ... Continue Reading »

scrooge_mcduck

Scrooge McDuck’s Swimming Pool of Debt

04.12.2011  |  Comments Off

So we have the national debt, credit card debt, mortgage debt, and student debt. To add to the difficulty, most students are graduating with a lot of credit card debt as well as ... Continue Reading »

Investing in The Saxifrage School, literally

03.10.2011  |  Comments Off

Our fine state of Pennsylvania just announced its budget: 50% decrease in funding for state Universities. The closing of campuses and dramatic increase in tuition fees are imminent. Every day The Saxifrage School project seems ... Continue Reading »

Education: Inflation

03.03.2011  |  Comments Off

My wife mentioned this subject last week and I have been considering it in my mind and on my to do list ever since. Here goes. If The Saxifrage School is committed to offering ... Continue Reading »

What. Section I: Economics

02.25.2011  |  Comments Off

The Saxifrage School, in its current stage, is a grassroots development project working to redesign American Higher Education by creating an innovative new college. The project is an ambitious attempt at social entrepreneurship ... Continue Reading »

Not getting what you pay for

08.15.2010  |  Comments Off

Between 2002-2006 tuition at private colleges went up 13% while spending on instruction went up <1%. Costs in that period increased at a rate more than 15 times more than the increased spending on student's ... Continue Reading »

For-Profit Higher Education

03.14.2010  |  Comments Off

Finally some quality commentary on the bad aspects of For-Profit higher education. Check this new story in The New York Times. As I keep saying, the entire idea of for-profit education leaves something to ... Continue Reading »

mural(2)

A Needs-Met Curriculum

10.11.2011  |  Comments Off

Last night at dinner, I heard about a small school in Mexico from a former Calvin College professor, who now teaches at a small college on a Native American reservation. I believe he ... Continue Reading »

productiveidea

Productive Inquiry

09.02.2011  |  Comments Off

Two weeks ago the Academic Planning team here at Saxifrage Headquarters spent two hours coming up with these two words: "productive inquiry". The goal was to find a phrase that we thought would ... Continue Reading »

Hhmeeting

The Higher Education of Harry Potter

06.20.2011  |  Comments Off

This past week held the official end of our first major public activity as an organization: operating "The General Will" bar/schoolroom in collaboration with the Mattress Factory and Glenn Loughran. We had some ... Continue Reading »

Building Design/Construction Program

05.19.2011  |  Comments Off

In addition to all of the other exciting development/exhibition work going on, I have been thinking a lot about our academic programs and how the humanities and technical sides ought to integrate and ... Continue Reading »

portfolio grading [or] why an essay is a simple beast

04.19.2011  |  Comments Off

Some preliminary thoughts... Freshmen year of College. Semester 1: Class 1: Adv. Composition 112 I began this class with a false sense of writing greatness; the first real test of my ability was a ... Continue Reading »

conservation is good work.

04.15.2011  |  Comments Off

Two sources this week have reminded me of further problems of cost and debt in Higher Ed; problems that are beyond the cost of tuition, room, or board. First, the NYT just published a ... Continue Reading »

Problem Solving & Integrated Curriculum

03.30.2011  |  1 Comment ››

To follow up on a brief mention towards the end of my last post, I want to cover this topic which is essential to sovereign learning and an education that is, to hack ... Continue Reading »

Canonizing vs. Sovereignty

03.29.2011  |  Comments Off

A serious issue I have been considering lately is the problem of canonization in University programs; this regimentation of exactly what content students must absorb for satisfactory completion of a subject area creates ... Continue Reading »

6811283546_69e5ee69e8_b

New Northside Headquarters

03.05.2012  |  Comments Off

New Headquarters: Afterhours at Buena Vista Coffee, 1501 Buena Vista Street Guest Speaker Gatherings, Tuesdays @ 7:00 Come join us Tuesday nights for excellent food and thoughtful discussion centered broadly around, what Sir Albert Howard calls ... Continue Reading »

Shantyboating at The General Will

06.05.2011  |  Comments Off

Thanks again to the Mattress Factory, Glenn Loughran, and Smith Bros. Advertising for helping us organize this amazing space here at The General Will. Out of all the times we've been able to ... Continue Reading »

Pamphlet #1

06.02.2011  |  Comments Off

To begin our time at "The General Will", the current headquarters for The Saxifrage School, we worked with Glenn Loughran to hurriedly create a pamphlet to describe our ideas and work. It went against ... Continue Reading »

The General Will

05.17.2011  |  1 Comment ››

For the past couple weeks now a lot of time has been dedicated to our new project in collaboration with Glenn Loughran and the Mattress Factory museum: The General Will. Many of the ... Continue Reading »

TEDxCMU

04.06.2011  |  Comments Off

This past Sunday I spent the whole day at Carnegie Mellon University's TEDxCMU event. Being a fan of the TED concept, I was excited to get a free ticket to my own local ... Continue Reading »

Values. Pedagogy. Squatter’s Sovereignty.

03.26.2011  |  Comments Off

Two events set the context for this post: 1. At our most recent Saxifrage School team meeting we had a great discussion concerning our strategic plan for the next 4 years and the values ... Continue Reading »

017063830final

sports AND higher education?

10.06.2011  |  Comments Off

According to their website the core purpose of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is: "to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher ... Continue Reading »

The Drop Out Crisis and “When Life Intervenes”

09.01.2011  |  Comments Off

A few years ago the Pittsburgh Post Gazette ran a 7 part series of articles called "Ready or Not" that looked at various aspects of the transition to college for young people in ... Continue Reading »

If on-campus were off-campus…

07.11.2011  |  2 Comments ››

These further iterations are inspired by a recent article (from his book, "Chairs are Where People Go") in The Paris Review: "Harvard and Class". Misha Glouberman excellently describes his frustrations with being stuck ... Continue Reading »

What: Part III: Community

04.02.2011  |  Comments Off

To finish the synopsis of our project: The description of The School ends with its ideas on how to redesign the college campus and its relationship with its surrounding community. The most innovative of ... Continue Reading »

The Nomad Campus

02.15.2010  |  1 Comment ››

A lot of references have been made to this idea of a "nomad campus". it is a new phrase, a new idea, and one of my favorites. It is the crux of this ... Continue Reading »

CV

02.07.2010  |  2 Comments ››

Imagine graduating College having.... ...no debt ...worked with an all-student team to build a small, super-efficient home ...gained certified fluency in Spanish ...worked both your mind and your hands ...written a research essay (read: small book) on importance ... Continue Reading »

Tools for The Journey

02.06.2010  |  9 Comments ››

Yet another thought to improve the student experience at The Saxifrage School: A Freshmen Supply Basket. Some things a new student will need to start College equipped, focused, and encouraged for their journey ... Continue Reading »

Responsibility I: The Student

01.13.2010  |  1 Comment ››

One of the more radical of our nation's experimental post-secondary schools, Deep Springs College, encourages its student to learn Personal Responsibility and Self Governance. They do this by limiting administrative involvement in the ... Continue Reading »