When Richard Branson of Virgin Airlines, Records, and Galactica fame was in middle school, his mother, a flight attendant, asked during a shopping trip if he thought he had the capabilities to make it back home if she were to leave him in the shopping center. He said he did, and she left him there. Hours later when Richard made it back to his family’s London house, he had discovered he had the tools to be self-reliant. Without finishing high school, Richard went on to build his Virgin Empire.
What type of education best develops a person’s capabilities, allowing him to become self-reliant, curious, and capable of handling an assortment of challenges? Better still, what qualities are best nurtured to create independent and critical thinkers? These are the types of questions that Laura and Jeff Sandfer wanted to tackle.
Jeff was a successful entrepreneur whose efforts in the Gulf of Mexico oil business made him independently wealthy by his third decade. He then taught entrepreneurship at the University of Texas, Austin business school encouraging projects, internships, coops and using case studies and the Socratic method of questioning decisions and evaluating actions, which he had practiced as a student at Harvard Business School. Jeff’s capability of teaching was so successful that he was heralded as teacher of the year. The key was Jeff’s methods worked and his students flourished in all kinds of businesses they created upon their graduation.
This success encouraged the founding of Acton Academy, a demonstrably different way to engage and educate by making students responsible for their education and development. To best set the stage for self-education Jeff and Laura also changed Acton Academy’s nomenclature to escape from the industrial template of public education. Students are called ‘eagles’. There are no teachers, only ‘guides’. Guides do not answer questions but rather use the Socratic Method to reach decisions and explore questions. There is no classroom, rather there is a studio where students work, create portfolios, and engage in the learning processes and the space is warm and inviting containing plants, no fluorescent lighting and windows without blinds.
After two years in service Acton students were evaluated using standardized national testing and over the course of a school year most had progressed three and a half grades over nine months. Yet, far more importantly, the students loved learning and that is the greatest gift any education can bestow.
In the Acton Academy each student takes on the ‘hero’s journey’ as best described by Joseph Campbell in his ‘Hero’s Journey.’ This quest requires asking a series of questions about who they are, why are they here, will they step forward to the call of adventure, will they be active or passive about the direction of their lives, and should they find the treasure of their potential, will they return home to help others find theirs? It’s a quest of self-discovery and sharing.
The cycle of discovery depends on students aggressively seeking out challenges. Eagles are encouraged to take on apprenticeships as early as possible working in businesses or setting up their own entrepreneurial enterprises through Children’s Business Fairs. Some students design products using 3-D printers, create clothing items for sale online and at the fairs, set up cafes for performances and hawk organic, sugarless cookies for healthy nutritional snacks.
Fundamentals of mathematics and sciences are learned by leveraging the power of online learning. Khan Academy, Dreambox, and Levia are used independently to self-study. Weekly reports are generated to track performance and expectations. In each subject of learning the Eagles set personal goals and assess their success.
There are now over a hundred Acton Academies including studios in Venice Beach and Tustin California. Students are involved in all levels of decision making and educational development. ‘Their participation inspires a feeling of ownership and pride in their own self-development’. Once this becomes ingrained in their expectations there are no limits.