It’s mid-afternoon on a Thursday, and The Circle School is abuzz.
A teenager has–allegedly–violated a rule, and everyone wants to know what the five-person judicial committee will do.
Will he admit the wrongdoing and accept punishment? Will he plead not guilty and go to trial?
Examples of democracy in action take place every day at The Circle School, an alternative school housed in a 75-year old brick building that once served as the infirmary for the Children’s Home of Harrisburg.
The Circle School is based upon such American concepts as individual freedom and responsibility. And the students-run judicial system–which almost daily judges infractions from chore-shirking to excessive swearing to, well, almost anything–shows how seriously the school takes it dedication to self-determination, fairness and community.
“We want the school to be a scaled-down version of the larger world,” said school co-founder Jim Rietmulder.
Rietmulder helped start The Circle School in 1984 as his own children were preparing to enter the educational system. He considered his options and didn’t like what he found.
“My wife and I looked around the area and said, ‘What are we going to do?'” he said. “For our children, we needed something different.”
So, in typical American fashion, Rietmulder didn’t just accept his bad options. He started something new.
With several others, he studied what he believed was right—and wrong–with how children were educated in this country.
The shortfalls, they believed, were many, but none stood out so boldly as the stark difference between the way a typical school was run and the way American society operated.
Outside of school, freedom and personal choice were valued. Inside, students were subject to a strict hierarchy and what they considered to be the stifling environment of rule-bound teachers and administrators. How could such a system prepare children–citizens–for life in a democratic society, where freedom, thought and responsible choice must be valued for the country to prosper?
So, after two years of planning, the founders crafted a genuinely unique approach to education–one of the first self-directed schools in the United States.
The old ways were out. At the Circle School, democratic practices would be infused within the fabric of the school, so everyone’s opinion would be encouraged and valued. Students would study what interested them, would intermingle at will and could come and go as they pleased– under the guidance of certified teachers and caring staff.
“It’s really just American government injected into a school,” said Rietmulder.
That approach to learning has remained unchanged for 28 years.
Each day, some 70 students, ranging from pre-K through high school, freely associate, often huddling into small groups to share interests, books, knowledge. The curriculum rarely segregates subjects, so that math, reading and other concepts are learned as an integrated whole.
At The Circle School, responsible choice is paramount. Students energetically pursue their interests, unencumbered by periods and bells. And, if they need to let off steam, they’re free to run around the grounds, a grassy expanse located the top of winding road in Swatara Township.
In the school’s free-form atmosphere, perhaps most striking is its order, as well as its energy.
Sure, there are rules. But students seem to follow them not because of coercion, but because everyone is vested in a well-functioning system. It’s much like the adult world, where most people voluntarily accept ways of behaving so society can operate in a civilized manner.
“The critical-thinking skills, self-motivation and time management that are all inherent to The Circle School’s program are essential to work I’m doing now,” said Austin Vogt, a 2002 graduate now studying for a Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis. “I can’t think of a better way to prepare for graduate school.”
There are challenges, Reitmulder says, as, naturally, some children take better to the independence than others. Teenagers who’ve been long-exposed to traditional schools seem to have the most trouble adapting, but, in time, most transition well, he said.
In the end, about 90 percent of students go on to college, with their Circle School experience preparing them perhaps better than their peers for the independence of college life.
“Our students who visit us after they’ve been away at college say they don’t understand their fellow students avoiding class or partying all the time,” he said. “They’ve already done the freedom thing. It’s nothing new to them.”
The Circle School of Harrisburg is at 210 Oakleigh Ave. 717-564-6700; circleschool.org; a program for prospective students will be held March 15 at 6:30 p.m. (details p. 11).
