An educational program that allows students to choose what they learn is coming to the Central Coast with Santa Barbara Free School starting this September.
Educators and partners Jesse Resnick and Madeline Kimlin were first introduced to the idea of “unschooling” — learning driven by the students’ interests and curiosities, allowing children to choose what they learn — by a family in France while they were traveling across the world by motorcycle during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After spending time exploring different forms of education and interning at multiple self-directed and democratic schools on the East Coast, Resnick and Kimlin are now bringing together elements from those programs for Santa Barbara’s first self-directed educational progam.
“Conventional top-down education is not true learning,” Resnick said. “True learning comes from inside.”
Students are required to register with the state as homeschool students to participate in the program, according to Resnick and Kimlin. Santa Barbara Free School’s website says annual tuition is $12,000.
Santa Barbara Free School’s self-directed and democratic philosophy includes students collaborating with staff on curriculum, no age segregation and no grades.
Adult staff members act as mentors and resource-connectors for students, and through weekly school meetings, adults and students will work together to make decisions regarding the school’s administration.
The program will encourage students to learn by doing, and instead of asking “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Resnick and Kimlin want students to consider “What do I want to do right now?”
Resnick and Kimlin said they are frequently asked about how students will learn the basics or core topics. They said that students will naturally pick up those basics as a byproduct of following their interests or passions.
“The ‘basics’ are so important to functioning independently in our world that self-directed students eventually have a very good reason to acquire them, and, motivated by that reason, do so rapidly,” the school’s website states.
Resnick also said that, on the first day, students will be presented with a budget that they will decide how to spend throughout the year, alongside adult staff.
Santa Barbara Free School is based in the Arts & Culture Center at 1330 State St. downtown, providing close access to several parks, museums, theaters and historical sites for students to explore.
The program’s first cohort this fall will have up to 25 students ages 12 to 16, and Resnick and Kimlin aim to eventually open the program to students ages 5 to 18.
Students will be required to attend at least four days per week for at least four hours per day, with the program running from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday from September to June.
Activities outside of the school, such as internships, classes, sports and employment, are also encouraged and may count toward the required attendance.
All students also will be required to attend weekly school meetings each Wednesday. Kimlin said those meetings are where the community aspect happens, and where students and staff will collectively make agreements and involve collaboration, debate, compromise and connecting.
While many self-directed schools at which Resnick and Kimlin spent time focus on the individual, Santa Barbara Free School will emphasize community as well.
Other features of the program include mentorship programs and cooperatives in which students and staff will come together around a shared interest and will be responsible for bringing that topic into the school.
For example, there may be an art cooperative or a travel cooperative where members will be responsible for sourcing materials and training others to use them, sharing skills or finding a teacher — whether that’s within the school or within the larger community — organizing events, and anything else involved with that interest at the school.
Resnick and Kimlin also emphasized that students in self-directed schools enter college at the same rate as students in traditional schools, and that they are often more attractive to colleges with the story and experience students gain in self-directed and democratic programs.
“It is very exciting,” Kimlin said about the upcoming program as potential students and staff have already begun talking and imagining ideas together. “There’s so much happening. … There’s an endless string of things to do.”
“Our goal is to create a school that will serve Santa Barbara for generations to come,” Resnick said.
Enrollment details and more information can be found on the school’s website.
— Noozhawk staff writer Serena Guentz can be reached at sguentz@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.