I wrote in another thread about this idea I have. I'm calling it the Free School because we will explore Freedom in its many manifestations. It also corresponds to the Anarchist vision of the Free School which you can read about here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school It's also FREE because it won't cost anything to participate and of course because we will allow Free Speech as elsewhere on this site. I'm hoping this Free School will provide the platform from which we old hippies can distribute our knowledge, wisdom and experience around the world. Any Old Hippie can signup to lead a course (discussion) on any topic. I suppose we'll have to setup a Free School student group so we can review applications for the school (those who can participate in the course discussions). I'll start a new thread where we can propose subjects to be made into course forums. Some likely ones will be "activism", "politics", "ecology", "surviving outside the system", "spirituality", "networking", etc... All of those will come under the Free School heading/forum. What do you think of that idea?
What level of education are you talking about Skip???? high school ,college, or life???? knowledge is always welcomed in my world
I like the idea.. Inexpencive Solar Energy sould be one of the topics.. not for me to run, but for me to learn.. I do have contributions to make..in natural healing.. I am certified in many areas of Alternative Healing.. I can donate my skills if there is a want or need for them. I think I am the only one here that is an Iridologest, not sure about that so no flames please. I use Iridology as a diagnostic tool to find weakness in the body, I use Herbs and Oils to bring the body back in balance with proper nutrition.. I use Muscle Responce Testing to find the right program for ones individule needs. I also make Herbal Healing Soaps using Aromatherapy as well as Herbals. I developed several Lotions and Salves and make Ritual Candles that have all been blessed with Holy Water, I make myself. I have knowledge in Tarot, Runes, Stones and Crystals, Color Therapy, Frequency (tone) Therapy and Healing Energy Transference. So if there is a need and ppl would like, I will offer what I have to the collective. I believe that knowledge is meant to share. Things that will help us survive if the system does collaps. Learning to make your own soap out of oil or lard will at least keep us dirty hippies clean aromatherapy will help us cope and the herbs will keep us alive. I am here to help if needed. Brightest Blessing sh
Suggested Topics Solar/Wind/Water Energy(build your own) Natural Healing(heal yourself naturaly) Wilderness Survival(edibile forrage, shelter, water purifacation) Organic Farming(how to) These are the notions we started out with in beginning of The Movement.. The Movement getting back to the garden some 35 yrs ago when we started out on our journeys to Freedom. These were the things that would help us the most to be free of the machine.. these things were free and what we needed to survive. Thoes are my suggestion and things I want to know more about.. I know there are ones here that can contribute to at least one of them, or have a suggestion of their own to contribute.. We have a lot of combined knowledge here between us.. some has gained it in the doing and living of it.. others may learn from their experiences. Bright Blessings sh
All the above ! Also, how to steps towards these alternative choices As some of have no real clue where to start We are so use to way we have lived
Yes, SH, I can see Holistic Medicine or Healing courses, taught by those with some knowledge and experience in various fields. That would be GREAT! Another GREAT IDEA I have been working on, is a new ONLINE, updated version of the Whole Earth Catalog. Not the same name or deal, but similar to it. A catalog of resources needed to survive off-the-grid and to help alternative communities help themselves. If anyone knows of some resource like this on the Internet, please let me know. I'm not aware of one yet. I could get something like that together in a month or less... I could get it together in ONE DAY, just by adding that capability to the Old Hippies Group, rather than a separate website (I'm really tired of creating new websites with separate systems I have to maintain...) Sorry that's a bit OT, but relevant to subjects covered by the Free School.
Well, I'd be glad to help, I have some experience in Organic Farming/gardening and some experience in the ups, downs, ins, outs, whys, & wheres of the whole "back-to-the-land" stuff. Peace, poor_old_dad
I would love to know more about sustainable living, farming, wilderness survival, all things EARTH...
So, are we going to set up virtual class rooms..where do we start.. I don't see why it would have to be on another website.. maybe just create a forum for it here with a list of courses/subjects as threads. I don't know how we would select which topics everyone wanted.. would we vote on them? Would Skip decide. would it be One person to run each thread/topic or do we all add our two cents. Will we just be posting urls on to where to find information on desired topic, or be using our own experience. I have been to other sites where it's like url world.. not really any inner action. No discussion, cold and sterill.. I would rather use hands on type training.. I lose intrest after a while.. following url trails. sh
These are all questions that have been bouncing around my head the past week! Don't think I want another website to deal with, and I'm sure most ppl don't want to have to log into another site separately. Perhaps if it's very successful we can port it out to another website. I think I can provide a starting list of general fields to be covered (if I haven't already). But it's up to each "instructor" or whatever we want to call them, perhaps "facilitator" or something like that to decide what specific subjects to discuss and course cirricullum. I'm expecting some knowledge and or experience on the part of those who are "facilitators" so they can lead the discussion and keep it on topic. I'm thinking what I'll do is create two new groups, one for students, one for facilitators. Facilitators will be able to create new threads, students can only respond to them. Facilitators will also have moderator powers over their forum. Otherwise all things should be equal pretty much. So each subject would get its own forum under the Free School main forum. So let's say we had two or three "instructors" in the subject of Ecology. They would all be mods for the Ecology forum and all can start new threads. What I'm trying to decide is how much customization will be necessary for this. I might need to make a new module if there are to be other features besides those already found in the forums. We're not going to be giving grades or such, so that's not necessary. But what other features of "schools" might we want to add to the Free School? Do we need a student union? (LOL! Be careful, they might just want to take over the school!) We definitely need a forum where the students can interact, and another where they can interact with the instructors outside of specific subjects, and start their own threads. We could have a forum just for the "instructors" where they can coordinate who leads which discussions and perhaps to discuss how to deal with troublesome students (like the moderator forum). As far as outside info goes, I see no problem with links to other sites, but it's always better to put things in our own words, rather than having some other site's spin on things. But in many cases it would be much easier to assign some "homework" that involves research on other websites, and perhaps a written report/summary from the students about their research. I'm really BIG right now on ppl handing out "assignments" because that is the ONLY way we are ever going to organize ourselves into an effective school/movement. Young ppl today are pretty lazy, but if we motivate them and give them a worthwhile interesting task, they might start getting involved like never before. Especially if the results are cumulative, and the school attracts attention from outside the forums. Right now ppl have no problems looking for and posting interesting items online, but we need to get them to go one step further - reviewing/analysing the info and reporting their results. This will not only get them more active, but it will motivate others to do the same, and will result in valuable, original web content that will drive more ppl to the school to share our common knowledge and experience!
all sounds good.. will we start a 'room' for us all to gather and work out the details.. like which subjects will we be teaching.. I would like to work on (of course) Alternitive Healing with someone who is knowldgable in that field. umm, do we have any students?!? I mean it wont do much good without partisapants/ students. Does anyone want to learn what we have to pass on. I know we get a lot of questions on what's it like to be a hippie and how do I know if I am a hippie... so these classes would like be a school of hip or teaching one to be a hippie.. that may be interesting. sh
I would want to be a student...my interests right now are in basic survival skills...living without electricity, identifying plants in the wild, wildcrafting, etc. The same kind of topics more or less covered in the "Living on the Earth" forum...but in a school fashion so folks could learn better how to actually do this stuff...
We'll need to get the instructors lined up with subjects before any students can know if they're interested. Of course anyone can suggest a subject, including students. Then we just need to find someone qualified to lead it. Since we're on the Web, these courses will likely not follow the linear pattern of most schools, where you have a start and a finish to a course in a set time. Courses can remain open as long as the leader/instructor/facilitator wants. After a course is closed, it's closed to new postings, but will remain as an information resource to the entire web community, indefinitely. So we could have courses that go on for years, accumulating new info, ideas, discussion. One of the visions that repeated comes into my mind is Stephen Gaskin's Thursday nite classes, which eventually led to a migration of students with Stephen to create the Farm in Tennessee. Stephen took the "classroom" concept into the 20th century by moving it into the real world. Being in a virtual world provides other challenges to us, but also benefits too. Students & intructors can come from anywhere in the world, and I expect some will provide unique insights from their cultural perspectives. Next week I'll setup the main Free School forum and a few subforums where we can get organized and recruit instructors and students and discuss the fields of study. While the Free School can't offer academic credits to transfer, any postings/research done by students are theirs to use again in their own academic work if they choose.
I'm not sure what "outside the system" fully means, but how about a "course" something like "surviving within the system", or "how to survive being poor in the U.S.A.", or "ways to make it for the 'working poor' in the U.S.A.". There's a lot of info that could be brought together about food stamps & other food sources, various welfare, housing assistance, etc. For instance, something I've passed on and help folks with, suppose you have little or no money; little or no insurance; and need health care. Here's a site to find Health centers that provide checkups when you're well, treatment when you're sick, complete care when you're pregnant, immunizations and well-child care for your children, and dental care and prescription drugs for your family, even if you have no health insurance. You pay what you can afford, based on your income. No income, no resources = no charge. http://www.ask.hrsa.gov/pc/ Also "surviving within the system" could include helping folks get through the mess of veterns benefits. Also help us older hippies get through, over or around the social security bureaucracyfor retirement etc. I don't know, just a thought..... This is something I've been wondering too. I've done some web programming & other computer work and let's face it, Skip, you're talking about chewing yourself off a big bite. Maybe this or a similar poll could be moved into a more visible location, where everyone (young, old, in between) can respond... to judge volume of interest. As it is myself and 4 or 5 others like the idea, but that'd be a damn small school. I don't know, just a thought..... Yeah, it's a question/topic that seems to never go away. Maybe add in "what it like to have been a hippie". I agree with the wise lady from Texas, it'd be interesting. BTW: my definition of a hippie or am I a hippie: If you think you're a hippie, and other hippies think you're a hippie, then you are one. I don't know, just a thought..... Peace, poor_old_dad
I think as we get the ball rolling more will join us.. I know some that are ready to sign up for classes now.. but we do need more folks coming in. we need to 'get the word out' and draw in some interested/interesting ppl. Bright Blessings sh
One thing at a time. Can't have a school without those willing to teach. There are always students willing to learn. I don't doubt that there will be a good response from our members once things get going. I'm purposely keeping out the masses from this discussion for the time being. We will need their input soon, as I'm sure they can tell us what they want to learn. However we are more aware of what they NEED to learn to survive. Plus we will set the tone of the Free School by setting up the first classes based upon our values and visions. Don't think classes on caring for dreadlocks and hacking video games will make it into The Free School, sorry. Perhaps classes on caring for seniors (like us) and hacking into the Pentagon's computers will make it...
This will be the first post in the New Free School. Comments welcome. Welcome to the first Internet Free School! Hip Forums is hosting this school modeled on the anarchist vision of the Free School. The idea behind this is to create the optimum environment for learning, free from academic stress, grades, deadlines, tuition and compulsory attendance. For more info about the Free School concept and links to existing Free Schools, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school To start, we will be using the forum setup here on Hipforums.com to create classes and to facilitate student/instructor interaction. Our instructors will create new school forums based upon their knowledge and experience. Each new forum will contain threads started by the instructor, which students are free to participate in after signing up. Anyone is welcome to suggest a new course subject, either based upon their own knowledge (instructor) or thirst for knowledge (student). There is a subforum where you can suggest a new course. New courses will be created provided there is sufficient interest and an available instructor. We will attempt to implement the democratic version of the free school, wherein the instructors and students have an equal say in decisions affecting the school. However since the school is part of the larger Hipforums community, some restrictions will be necessary. All students and instructors are bound by the Forum Guidelines, so please be familiar with them. All those wishing to participate in the Free School must join the Free School group to post in the School forums. A student in one class can be an instructor in another, so we won’t discriminate between students and instructors. However within a particular class (forum), the instructor is the only one able to create new threads and act as moderator for their class. We suggest all instructors include threads for general subject discussions, student reports/research, and anything else not covered by the course itself. These can be stickied at the instructor’s discretion. We welcome feedback and suggestions from everyone, and there is a specific forum for that. It will be a challenge to implement a successful Free School on the Internet as apparently it’s never been tried before. So bear with us as we get organized and work out the kinks in this setup. We invite all those interested to participate in this school, and to spread the word that it exists far and wide across the Internet! Please note: This Free School is non-accredited, and does not offer transferable course credits. What kind of classes are appropriate for the Free School? The Free School mission is to share knowledge and experience not obtainable thru mainstream educational channels. We’re looking for alternative subjects not usually taught in any high school or rarely in College. The goal is to provide students with a set of skills and knowledge to succeed and survive in an increasingly hostile and politicized world. So the focus of many courses will be on how to live a sustainable lifestyle that respects the earth and our fellow human beings. Courses may cover alternative technologies, living off the land, ecological awareness, political and environmental activism, holistic medicine, shamanism, philosophy, meditation, do-it-yourself, hydroponics, communal living and much more! While the Hipforums has already covered many of these subjects, the Free School version of these forums will be more structured with directed study than the free-form Hipforums. One great advantage of this Internet Free School is that students needn’t be present for the start of a class. Nor will a class proceed according to a schedule, with a final exam and end point. Students can come and go as they please! Each class continues until the Instructor calls it quits, either because they’ve imparted all their wisdom on the subject or thru lack of interest or for personal reasons. So this is the mission and design of the Free School here on the Hipforums. Beyond that the rest is up to the students and instructors, limited only by the Forum Guidelines, the software we’re using, and any other technical, operational or security issues that demand my oversight.
