BY: ADAM THRUSH A new social initiative has launched in Nicaragua that focuses on the organization of communal spaces for the purpose of hosting makeshift libraries in rural Nicaraguan villages. ‘Barriotecas’ (literally translated to ‘neighbourhood libraries’) simply aims to provide…
Alternative highschools use different learning strategies to teach students
BY: ELIJAH BASSETT For many of us, the word “school” evokes thoughts of long, drawn-out hours spent hunched over desks while teachers talk at us, but more and more educators are realizing that it doesn’t have to be that way.…
This group of teens transformed a homeless encampment into a tiny home village
BY: QUENTIN STUCKEY A group of dedicated and altruistic teenagers has managed to build tiny, mobile homes for homeless citizens in Seattle, Washington. The teens were led by the non-profit organization, Sawhorse Revolution, with additional help from several construction, architecture,…
Travel company launches gap year program that takes learning around the globe
BY: SAMANTHA TAPP Not all learning happens in a classroom, sometimes a plane ticket can trump a text book. Geckos Adventures, a travel company that plans adventures for 18-29 year-old travellers, is taking the popular gap year, a year-break students…
The Grey School of Wizardry is the real-life Hogwarts of your childhood dreams
BY: JESSICA BEUKER If you were the type of child who checked the mail daily, or waited patiently by the front door, only to subsequently be disappointed by the tragic realization that your Hogwarts letter might never actually arrive –…
You’re right, we should be teaching mindfulness and meditation in schools.
BY: Adrian Smith When I consider how positively mindfulness affects my psyche and my overall mental wellness, I’m often left wondering why our education system doesn’t teach mind-body training in schools. Mindfulness, a term first coined by biologist Jon…
Answering the question, “What’s next after school?”
By: Adrian Smith I keep hearing, “What’s next for you?” this semester, “What’re you planning after school?” And all I’ve come up with so far is “Sleep.” It’s a tough question to answer, especially when it implies job direction—stepping into…
Take a look inside New York City’s first net-zero energy public school
BY: CAROLINE ROLF Before you step foot in the front doors, it’s clear that this is not a typical place of learning. The roof, which is covered in hundreds of solar energy converting panels and the unique floor plan help the…
This new preschool will teach kids to grow their own food
BY: JESSICA BEUKER The traditional school structure has long been one of “textbook” learning rather than hands-on learning, where practical experience acts as the teacher. Paired with a societal shift towards convenience and technology, we have cut off some of…
Why you can’t let the end of your formal education limit your passion for learning
BY: CAROLINE ROLF Our attitudes toward education have been doomed since pre-school. When we finally mastered tying our shoelaces, we got a gold star. If we grasped finger-painting, we got to march across a stage in June, signifying the…
This entrepreneur will pay you $100,000 to drop out of college
BY: CAROLINE ROLF According to PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, the key to achieving a successful business quickly is by skipping college, and he’ll pay you to do it. The Thiel Foundation is offering $100,000 fellowships to entrepreneurs under 22 to…
This Toronto school is giving the middle finger to political correctness – and for good reason
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Recently we’ve seen a rise in media, public institutions, universities, and just about everyone else in the public sphere contributing to the “coddling of the North American mind.” The article for The Atlantic explains that the rising…
Elon Musk was fed up with America’s education system so he decided to build his own “unschool” (Video)
Elon Musk has attracted a lot of media attention recently, mainly for his company’s breakthrough invention of the Tesla Battery, but also for his legendary entrepreneurial history and status as “the real life Iron Man.” Recently, Musk made headlines by…
This college student saved $8,000 a year by building his own dorm in the woods
BY: JESSICA BEUKER Imagine there is no electricity, and no running water. There are no cell phones, laptops, or televisions—no honking cars or blazing sirens. In the woods you would be one with nature, living simply and focusing on self-fulfillment,…
Why Americans should be jealous of Finland’s wildly progressive education system
BY: DANIEL KORN Much has been made of Finland’s incredibly successful education system. In the 1960s, faced with economic turmoil after a series of smaller wars throughout the World War II years, Finnish Parliament made the wise realization that the…
Why this professor thinks porn should be shown in classrooms
BY: JESSICA BEUKER If you never suffered through the awkward and uncomfortable sex talk with your parents, then you likely attained most of your knowledge through high school sexual education. If there is anything that I remember about high school…
When a 15 year-old is strip searched by her teachers, we need to talk about consent
BY: SIERRA BEIN After a student suspected of selling drugs was strip-searched by her teachers, people all over Canada were outraged. She had to remove all her clothing in front of a blanket — underwear included — while another staff…
I ran away from home and learned more about life than all 4 years of high school combined
BY: EMMA MCINTOSH No one expected this from me. I wasn’t a goody-goody, but I was a decent kid. I had straight A’s, took AP classes, was the president of the suicide prevention club, wrote for the school paper, and…
There’s now an Ivy League course for procrastinating on the Internet
BY: AYA TSINTZIRAS “Wasting Time on the Internet” is the name of a class being offered by the English department at the University of Pennsylvania. The course will be three hours long and all in-class communication will take place on…
If you have always wanted to be a mermaid, there’s a school for that
BY: BRITTANY ROSEN Introducing Merfest: a mermaid convention that lets you live out your childhood fantasy without raising too many eyebrows. Located in Cary, North Carolina, over 300 of these real-life mermaids meet up three times a week at the…