Jerry Mintz - International Democratic Education

<p>Jerry Mintz is the Founder and Director of the Alternative Education Resource Organization. He was the first executive director of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools (NCACS), and was a founding member of the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC).</p> <p>In addition to several appearances on national radio and TV shows, Jerry’s essays, commentaries, and reviews have appeared in numerous newspapers, journals, and magazines including The New York Times, Newsday, Paths of Learning, Green Money Journal, Communities, Saturday Review, Holistic Education Review as well as the anthology Creating Learning Communities (Foundation for Educational Renewal, 2000).</p> <p><br></p> <p>Key Takeaways:</p> <p>00:24 Jerry’s Favorite Thing about working with the Young Learners</p> <p>01:15 Origin Story of Jerry’s Journey to Alternative Education</p> <p>12:06 Options to Alternative Education</p> <p>19:09 Demand for Alternative Education in this time of Pandemic</p> <p>23:17 Democratic Process for Learners</p> <p>33:12 &nbsp;International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) and Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) Conference</p> <p>36:01 Frustrated Parents who wants to start something new</p> <p>40:00 Metaphor comparing Conventional to Alternative Education</p> <p>45:53 Requirements for a School to be in AERO</p> <p><br></p> <p>Quotes:</p> <p>"So the whole idea is to make a learner centered approach available to students everywhere. And what I mean by learner-centered, is a program that listens to what the students are interested in and build on their interest rather than curriculum-driven, which is an old model, which is just very, very antiquated. It had its purpose at some point, maybe. But this will help you become a lifelong learner."</p> <p>"If kids are natural learners, forcing them to learn things they're not interested in extinguishes their natural ability to learn."</p> <p>"Children are natural learners. If you know that they're the ones who are bringing the curriculum t