| Connor's List | | By Connor Tyrrell | | The Circle School |
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The only school in Pennsylvania in which the students and staff together, each with one vote, govern and run the school. The Circle School combines this democratic approach to education with students developing their own curriculum and learning at their own pace with the method that is most successful for them.
Permission to freely copy and distribute this document is given, provided that the text is not modified or abridged and this notice is included. For more information about The Circle School available electronically, check http://www.circleschool
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Why do you want to go to The Circle
School, anyway, Connor? Connor attended the summer session and liked what
he saw. He dictated this list of his own personal reasons, as part of his
family's discussions prior to his enrollment this fall.
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I'll learn Japanese at TCS.
- I can do math at my own level and
at my own speed.
- I can go outside and eat whenever
I want.
- I can do origami. Some of my friends
and I have started a store [at TCS] and we have made 60 cents. I also have
() plans to make people want to come and buy stuff.
- I can be with friends a lot at TCS.
At public school I could only play with them 40 minutes a day.
- At public school I couldn't share
my ideas, except during a special class with Mrs. XXXXX. At TCS I can share
ideas with everyone all the time.
- I can be upstairs whenever I want.
- I can use whatever computer programs
I want, whenever I want. At public school I had to play the games the teachers
told me and only in certain classes. In computer class I would always be
finished before everybody else and so I would have to do the same things
tons and tons of times and also in other classes.
- I like being on the JC [Judicial
Committee at TCS] so when kids break rules, instead of standing at the
wall for 20 minutes [as in public school] we think of other ways to help
them understand the rules - like if they broke them for the first time
they just get a warning, and if they have already done it before, a harder
consequence [TCS jargon for "sentence"]. Like if someone hits someone then
they can't be around that person for an hour or something like that.
- At TCS you can go on field
trips if you plan it. Michel was only five years old when he arranged a
trip to the aquarium in Baltimore. I would like to plan trips to the new
TCS building.
- I like it when Mommy dissects
frogs with us.
- I like to play with Technics.
- I want to go to TCS. I don't really
want to go to public school and I get throw-up in the back of my mouth.
I get up at 6:30am to get dressed and tell Mom it's time to go to TCS.
- The public school says they are
going to do things and they never do it. They said my friend was going
to get to go to Special Interest, but he didn't almost until the end of
first grade.
- At public school I do the papers in
about 20 seconds and then I have to wait a long time. I especially hate
it when we do problems one at a time and have to wait up for everybody
to finish. While I'm waiting I do algebra in my head. I know negative numbers
and algebra like x + x = 12, then x = 6. I have to wait till eighth grade
for that.
- I like The Circle School because I
don't have to be there for like seven hours. I can be there as long as
I want, like maybe ten hours.
- At public school I was so bored once
I fell asleep. And sometimes when I'm not paying attention and the teacher
asks me a question, I know the answer anyway - whew!
- I like the way at TCS you get warnings.
At public school you never get warnings, you always get five minutes on
the wall, even if it's your first time.
- [At public school] you couldn't really
talk at lunch and sometimes if you did you'd get five minutes on the wall.
At TCS you can take a bite and then go play and come back.
- The rules at TCS are good because we
get to make them. At public school they have all these rules and you can't
make any others because they are already made. At public school the teacher
that teaches the class makes the rules before you even get there. At TCS
the rules can change all through the year by teachers or kids. At public
school the teachers make you follow the rules and punish you. At TCS everyone
can write up someone else for breaking rules, and the JC [Judicial Committee]
thinks of the consequence for the kid or whoever it is.
- At public school the only time you
get to use your imagination is when you are not paying attention, and you
are supposed to pay attention. At TCS you can imagine whenever you want,
and I like that. I like to imagine.
- In public school I didn't feel good
about everyone else getting in trouble; I never got in trouble. The reason
I said that I was no good was because that was the way I felt. I don't
know why I felt that way. I don't like it when kids get consequences at
TCS either. It sometimes makes me feel bad, sort of, but most of the time
I think consequences are good.
- At TCS when I come up with an idea
I can do something about it. The origami store was my idea and quite a
few people decided to do it together. In public school I can't really do
that kind of thing- only the teachers can.
- I would like to practice typing more.
I would like to learn more about Sweden and Japan. I'm already taking Japanese.
I would like to study music, especially on the baritone ukulele, and art,
by visiting art museums and getting some classes.
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