Global Village Voice

Imagine how the world would be different if children received the type of education that nurtured their individual gifts and empowered them to be capable, confident, and wise stewards of the planet. Imagine the kind of adults these youth would become if they were provided with learning experiences that value peace, compassion, justice, sustainability, appreciation of diversity, and the living of an authentic and meaningful life.  Imagine what kinds of decisions they would make as voters, consumers, and parents if they knew the truth about the impact of their governments’ policies and actions around the world, if they understood the real costs (human and environmental) of the “cheap” items they buy, if they knew where to go to get news that isn’t filtered by the corporate media. Imagine the kind of world they could create if, from a very early age, they were exposed to historical and modern day examples of people who are changing the world through nonviolent means.  

These are some of the ideals that fuel the vision of Global Village School (GVS), an international K-12 homeschool diploma program based in Ojai, California. Founded in 1999, GVS represents a radically new model of education that combines alternative educational methods and philosophies with the goals and values of progressive social movements. GVS aims to effect change at both the personal and global levels by educating individual students about the problems and possibilities facing our planet.  The homeschooling model ensures that the resulting impact will reach beyond traditional borders since students around the world can participate.

Global Village cultivates a supportive atmosphere for many different kinds of students whose needs have not been met during their previous school experiences. Many are delighted to discover a school that shares (and can help them implement) their desire for a more just and peaceful world. Others choose GVS for academic reasons; some need to work at their own pace or want to delve deeper into subjects than traditional classroom settings permit.  Students who are branded with labels like ADD, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or “lazy” thrive when they take part in a program that adjusts to accommodate their interests, talents, and learning styles.  The GVS system allows young people to rediscover their natural abilities and love of learning.

New students take a learning styles profile that provides information about their disposition, modality (tactile-kinesthetic, visual picture learner, etc.), interests, and talents. Families choose between structured text and online curriculum, fully customized curriculum based on their individual interests, needs, and learning styles, or – for those already experienced homeschoolers – using their own curriculum. Global Village teachers provide support, review, and documentation.

Peace, justice, diversity, and sustainability themes are woven into core academic areas (English, Science, Math, etc.).  Students become familiar with effective strategies of inspirational role models like Gandhi, King and others through courses such as Reflections on Peacemaking, Global Spirituality and Activism, The History of Civil Rights in America, Literature of Diversity, Peacemakers, and Service Learning.  GVS Service Learning converts theory and idealism into meaningful action in the students’ local communities.

GVS students earn elective credit for many different kinds of life experiences, such as traveling, participating in cultural events, performing in community theater productions, pursuing a career in athletics or the film industry, or starting their own business. GVS youth engage in a wide range of activities, including: studying anatomy, holistic healing, and herbal medicine, working on a presidential campaign, volunteering at a botanical garden, publishing an alternative newspaper, learning their tribal language and traditions, organic gardening, and operating a home recording studio.

Traditional methods of schooling shut down students’ creativity; students are taught passivity and obedience to authority figures. It does great harm to children when their potential is stifled, and it does great harm to the planet when its future stewards are so numbed, pacified, and disempowered.

These are crucial times. We need people in this world who have the potency to take action when they care about something and the passion and commitment to see their efforts through.  This vision calls for a new type of education that empowers, informs, enlivens, and plants the seeds for a peaceful, just, and sustainable future.  Global Village School answers that call.

To learn more, visit the Global Village School web site.

Posted under Activism, Education, Homeschooling