By Emma Lu ‘24
As part of a growing initiative among schools nationally, St. Mark’s School has finally reached consensus on the subject of self-directed learning. Following many faculty meetings, the school has decided that beginning in Fall of 2022, St. Mark’s will no longer hold any synchronous classes and will switch to a fully self-guided model of learning.
What brought upon this sudden change in philosophy? In keeping with its mission statement, a core philosophy of St. Mark’s is to develop students’ particular abilities through “inspiring their … curiosity and kindling their passion for discovery.” Despite efforts, research and large scale surveys show that students value their actual learning less and less, instead solely prioritizing grades and GPAs. This strict focus on an often not fully representative number for college applications only diminishes what the period of high school is meant to be; a formative four year period of growth for adolescents to find themselves in context to the greater world.
The systems of education in most schools are insufficient at providing this experience to our youth. This is unsurprising, given that the current systems were designed in a time where high school was often the highest level of education a person would receive and was merely meant to prepare young people for obedience in the standardized workplaces. Hence, why independent schools such as St. Mark’s exists; parents and their children wish for a well rounded education that is able to support and nurture the youth’s unique personhood for a world that increasingly demands creativity and critical thinking. Existing programs such as the school's extensive collection of student lead groups, Lions Roam, and more are meant to facilitate this, and a fully self-guided education is just the next step in response to changing demands in a shifting world.
As self-directed.org explains, “self-directed education necessarily leads different individuals along different paths, though the paths may often overlap, as each person’s interests and goals in life are in some ways unique and in some ways shared by others.”
Through comprehensive discussion with all faculty, board members, and the wider community, St. Mark’s has decided to fully embrace this approach. Beginning fall of 2022, no in person nor online classes would be provided by the school. No academic or scheduled blocks of any kind would exist, which would give students much needed flexibility and encourage independence. In place would be a wide catalog of lectures, online discussion boards, and other resources curated and created by our talented faculty, for each and every course. With no required assignments, students are given the opportunity to engage as much as they want on the subjects that interest them, at whatever level they wish. Should students deem that more support is required, all faculty would still be available to meet with students during the now open academic day.
Although the changes are seemingly radical, St. Mark’s has already experimented with various self-guided programs or units in classes, with highly positive results. In these small scale tests, reports on engagement with material have increased significantly, as have results, as indicated by increased performance in various assessments. Furthermore, student contentment and feelings of accomplishment with work completed greatly increased.
More concrete information would be released in the oncoming weeks regarding incoming changes as the school enters another period in its long history.