Fast Co. article #9

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Fast Co. article #9 "Lessons for Life," by Rekha Balu, Issue 35

An elementary school in Nevada is trying some innovative techniques for teaching kids life and leadership skills. Fifth graders created a fictional "micro society" called Garehime Heights, equipped with its own currency, postal service, court system and businesses. The school's mission is "to help people become responsible citizens of a democracy" and looks for inventive ways to get students to think about careers and succeeding in the workplace.

The entire school takes part in the student-run operations which includes an extensive payroll and reward system, to an environmental protection agency--everything a society needs to sustain itself. For example, one fifth-grade class shared the job of running a bank with a third-grade class. Earning and spending money for real life expenses is a big learning for the students as they add and subtract their bank balances. These students were reported to have much more interest and skill in math from the beginning of the year to the end.

The micro society model teaches valuable life skills as each student has a job and is accountable for their work and how they interact with others. The school principal says the model is successful at their school because teachers and administrators work hard and "take advantage of the opportunity to be creative." Even though the school is only two years old, it is doing well according to standard measures. They cite their lack of disciplinary problems as a result of the new approach to learning. Students are accountable not only to doing their job, but also to their peers--which adds pressure for them to want to succeed.

Another motivator which I have questions about is their "currency rewards" which are given to students as rewards for their leadership and efforts. "Garehime Gold" is currency equal to ten cents and earned by students who demonstrate skills such as respect, integrity and creativity. Those who display extra efforts can also be tapped for new posts that include leadership opportunities. I understand how much money (and candy) can motivate people, but it seems like the wrong message to teach young kids--to do well because you will earn money.

Interestingly, my son's fourth grade class had a "micro society" component this year. The students did several projects such as studying and building models of different types of housing and learning about food production and consumption. They did research about crops and manufacturing in our area and will create a restaurant menu featuring locally grown produce. Each student chose a local business to learn about and talked with business owners about what they do and how they started their business. My son says he enjoys "doing what he learns" and liked hand building a model of an apartment building.

Our educational system in Minnesota must be pretty decent as a lot of articles I've read about new, cutting-edge educational efforts seem to be fairly common here. Maybe Garrison Keilor is right--we ARE above average.

-- Anonymous, May 21, 2000


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