Understanding One Another
Schools with No Classes or Classrooms
EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION
Walk into this school and you might mistake it for a junk playground: an aquarium, a replica of Tutankhamun’s tomb, Greek columns, a bunk bed, and the front half of a sky-blue ’69 Cadillac, all sharing space with students who set their own schedules. Presenting Rutger Bregman’s Humankind: A Hopeful History, Doug describes founder Sjef Drummen’s blunt justification: ‘Shut kids up in cages and they behave like rats.’
A Note on the Original Text
Doug’s writings are presented as originally written. Spelling, punctuation, and grammatical irregularities have been retained to preserve his words and the integrity of the original record.
ORIGINAL WRITING
“The content in this post is based on the book Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman.
“No homework or grades. No hierarchy of vice-principals and team leaders—only teams of autonomous teachers (or ‘coaches’ as they are called here). Actually, the students are the ones in charge. At this school, the director is routinely booted out of his office because the kids need it for a meeting.
And, no, this is not one of those elite private schools for offbeat students with zany parents. This school enrolls kids from all backgrounds. It’s name. Agora.
It all started in 2014, when the school decided to tear down the dividing walls. (Drummen: ‘Shut kids up in cages and they behave like rats.’ ) Next kids from all levels were thrown together. (‘Because that’s what the read world is like.’). Next, kids from all levels were thrown together. (‘Because that’s what the real world is like.’). Then each student had to draw up an individual plan. (‘If your school has one thousand kids, then you have one thousand learning pathways.’).
The result?
Upon entering the school, what first comes to mind is a junk playground. Rather than rows of seats lined up facing the board, I see a colorful chaos of improvised desks, an aquarium, a replica of Tutankhamun’s tomb, Greek columns, a bunk bed, a Chinese dragon, and the from half of a sky blue ’69 Cadillac.
One of the students at Agora is Brent. Now seventeen, until a few years ago he attended a bilingual prep school where he was earning good grades in everything except French and German—which he was failing. Under the Dutch three—track system Brent was transferred to down to a general secondary education track and then, when he continued to lag behind, to a vocational track. ‘When they told me, I ran home, furious. I told my mother I was getting a job at McDonald’s.
But thanks to friends and friends of friends, Brent wound up at Agoura, where he was free to learn what he wanted. Now he knows all about the atomic bomb, is drafting his first business plan and can carry on a conversation in German. He’s also been accepted on an international programme at Modragon University in Shagon.
According to his coach Rob Houben, Brent felt afflicted about announcing his admission to college. He told me, ‘There’s still so much I want to give back to this school for everything it’s done for me.’