“Who decides what kids learn? They have interests just like us.” As a public school teacher, Diane “…dreamed of a modern day scholae. Scholae comes from the Greek word for school. It’s a place where people engage in learning as a leisure activity. A place to share, practice and cultivate ideas.” Two and a half years ago, Diane Murphy started BigFish Learning Community in Dover, NH, as a way to realize her dream, to create a space for learning free from the restraints and tunnel vision of conventional school.
Madi Person, a current high school student who knew Diane from middle school, attended BigFish’s first open house, which included a panel of North Star teens who talked about their experiences self-directing their educations. Madi describes her awakening as she listened to the teens: “I heard stories from these kids who don’t go to school, They construct their own education. They [are] invested in their lives and proud of what they [are] doing. Suddenly everything just clicked. At the end of the open house I turned to my mom and said, ‘Tomorrow is my last day of public school.’
Madi and Diane shared the stage at TEDxPortsmouth this past fall, offering the backstories and motivations that inspired BigFish, and how life at BigFish supports young people to connect learning with who they are and who they want to be. Check out the full talk:
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