Not sure what else to say, except: "Well said!"
Ann
----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce Smith <bsmith@coin.org>
To: <discuss-sudbury-model@sudval.org>
Sent: Sunday, December 16, 2001 1:49 PM
Subject: RE: DSM: David Rovner's and Bruce Smith's recent posts on the
Diploma
>
> As for fraud, my sense of this discussion is that people aren't charging
> that the non-evaluative diploma represents a deliberate attempt to deceive
> the outside world. And even if people on this list are making that charge,
> I don't think it's the case. Neither the SVS nor the Fairhaven diplomas
are
> readily understood by that outside world; both are easily misinterpreted
> and both require explanation. So be it. I think the root problem is that
> *any* diploma is not only going to trigger various connotations, but is
> inherently arbitrary. This is why the Sudbury purist might shy away from
> anything resembling a diploma process. If you have a diploma based solely
> on the amount of time spent at school (e.g., 3 years as a student in good
> standing), then what great sage determines the magical time it takes a
> student, at minimum, to get what the school has to offer? And where is it
> written that simply being a student in good standing is sufficient for
> that?
>
> I guess what I'm getting at is that any diploma process has to rest on
> intuition. My intuition tells me it prefers an SVS/AVS diploma process
over
> the Fairhaven process. I know the argument that being able to make it
> through a few years at a Sudbury school isn't easy, in the sense that
> issues will be encountered and growth will occur. But it's also difficult
> to make it through [X] years in a traditional school without doing
violence
> either to others or to oneself. I just don't like the idea of "time
served"
> as the standard for a diploma, whether that time is spent in jail or in
> freedom. For me, and I think many on this list, the concept of diploma
> carries with it a great deal of weight (whatever we specifically take it
to
> mean), and I don't perceive an equivalent sense of gravity in a diploma
> which is a token of one's attendance and JC records. It also seems
> standardized -- one simple, concrete measure for all -- which itself goes
> against the Sudbury grain.
>
> As for those who argue that any sort of diploma is inconsistent with the
> Sudbury philosophy...yes, a diploma may be abitrary and evaluative, but I
> would ask whether the philosophical underpinning of democracy doesn't
> justify having a diploma process if a majority of the school wants one. It
> is an individual's choice whether to pursue a diploma, and whether to help
> determine what the diploma process will be. In my view, having no diploma
> process is just as standardized an approach as an attendance-based process
> (the individual option for GEDs notwithstanding). The more choices for
> students the better, I say.
>
> Bruce
>
>
> p.s. I must say, I blush at the honor of having my name included in the
> subject line. Wowee....
>
> --------------------------------
> "Cherish your best hopes as a faith, and abide
> by them in action."
>
> -- Margaret Fuller
>
>
>
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