Educational philosophy

In the face of unaffordable, corporatized learning, and the “one size fits all” curriculums that often define public and private higher education, we are presenting an alternative. School of the Alternative is a socially integrated experience, with intimate classes, communal living, and emphasis on shared labor.

Through a system of co-education, learners and educators cooperate in actively producing knowledge and forming new aesthetic experiences. Faculty are free to plan their class according to their own instruction, and are encouraged to join other classes as students. Students are expected to design their own curriculum but are also given the opportunity to teach. All members will participate in the school’s physical maintenance through gardening, cooking, cleaning and will contribute to the gradual and continual transformation of the educational objectives, essential values, and political concerns, bracing School of the Alternative.

We value experimentation as both an aesthetic drive, and as a way to push new ideas and old traditions to their limits. This radical power is one that allows for significant change – within us, our respective fields, our society, and and our relationships with others.