I’ve waited for years for this marvelous book, Lives of Passion, School of Hope: How One Public School Ignites a Lifelong Love of Learning. It tells a story of a K-12 progressive school (Jefferson County Open School, Colorado) that combined the best features from research and practice such as: strong advisory system, personal learning plan, learner centered environment, world as classroom, service learning, travel study and competency based graduation. I began such a school in 1971 but it did not have sustained progressive leadership after my first seven years as principal. Nor has it documented its successes, both immediate and long term in the graduates’ lives. This book does all that with statistics and a rich assortment of anecdotes. If ever we needed a blueprint about schooling, one could hardly do better than this book. Every student is expected to become an effective communicator, a complex thinker, a responsible citizen, an ethical person, and a quality worker. How’s that for a set of outcomes? This is one of the most important books I have read and I highly recommend it. The author, Rick Posner worked in the school and has produced a most readable and essential book for educators and the public.

—International Association for Learning Alternatives

When the kids run the school, unbelievable things can occur. Lives of Passion, School of Hope: How One Public School Ignites a Life Long Love of Learning tells the story of a truly unique school where the students run the show. In spite of all pessimistic outlooks, the school under this method has had untold success and Rick Posner does well in telling readers how this unique method works. Lives of Passion, School of Hope is a top pick for those considering alternative educational methods.

—Midwest Book Review

Lives of Passion, School of Hope: How One Public School Ignites a Lifelong Love of Learning, by Rick Posner, profiles one of the most exciting and successful schools I know at supporting the intrinsic motivation that Pink describes: Jefferson County Open School (JCOS), a public school in Lakewood, Colorado, which I've had the great opportunity to visit.

Imagine going to this kind of school: in addition to typical classes, you can choose to enroll in a class called “Film Noir” or “Calculus for Poets,” you can arrange self-directed learning periods to pursue an independent project, you can attend a trip class that travels for 2-4 weeks, or you can schedule internships or attend college classes. You determine all of this yourself, with support from an adult advisor and other students. You are part of a school governance system that gives you and teachers equal voice on school-wide issues. And your key graduation requirement is to fulfill the “Rites of Passage,” carrying out six self-designed projects in the areas of Logical Inquiry, Global Awareness, and Career Exploration, among others.

That's JCOS! (Though the school is K-12, that description was specific to the high school program). Posner, a long-time teacher and administrator at the school, offers us a glimpse into JCOS through his own reflections and those of the more than 400 alumni he surveyed. We see how the unique autonomy-supportive environment of JCOS nurtures a love for learning, helps students succeed at college and work, and develops in students a desire to create a better world.

Self-directed activity - or autonomy, voice, active engagement - is one of the most essential aspects of a democracy, and a basic human need. These two books show us the great value in aligning our businesses and schools with this basic need, and in working from our innate intrinsic motivation to be self-directed, to learn, and to improve ourselves and our society.

—Dan Pink, Democratic Education

Are you a student frustrated with your conventional education? Are you a teacher looking for inspiration? Are you a parent at your wits end with a child skipping school?

Pick up a copy of Rick Posner’s new book, Lives of Passion, School of Hope where he profiles the highly successful and alternative Jefferson County Open School in Colorado. Operating for 39 years, Posner outlines the Open School program of experiential learning including positive and negative feedback from alumni. Instilling a love of learning in its students and staff the Open School education is based on three domains- social, personal and intellectual, with five goals focusing on finding joy and meaning in life.

Feeling that there is a disconnect between our children’s education and the real world waiting for them post high school and college, Posner urges us to see the merit of an education full of “real-life” experiences. From adventures in the Boundary Waters to service trips to areas of natural disasters, the Open School curriculum is based on student input and self- direction. Testimonials from students who were inspired by bus drivers who taught photography and advisors who took the time to really get to know them, Posner will have you reconsidering a traditional education.

The critics question a school without grades or credits, one where students graduate with a 50-page narrative transcript, but Posner easily assuages those concerns. Open School graduates attend prestigious universities like Yale and Harvard as well as become teachers, scientists and doctors. Making a difference in the world is an integral part of the Open School education and most graduates continue to pay it forward throughout their lives. As both an Open School teacher and parent, Posner is fully committed to the school and sharing its success, including a list of the essential components to re-structure a conventional school via the Open School model. If you’re considering a change, Posner will set you on a new track of lifelong learning.

—Kate Greenwood, TCM Reviews

Education is at best a thorny subject. I grew up going though the English Grammar School system in the 1960’s, every subject had been de-humanized to the level where everything was boring and seemed to have little connection to the real world. Math was reduced to problems involving what would happen if you turned the faucets on and forgot to put the drain plug in the bath tub. Of course sensible answers like “Sir, I would either put the plug in, or if I could not find it, I would turn the faucets off” immediately received a swift and usually painful administering of ‘Education’.

At no point could I relate to what was being jammed into my mind. In a few short years I lost my love of reading, I quite honestly hated ripping a book apart for the ‘deeper meaning’. Was it not possible that the author was merely writing a story? All in all, I class my school experience as a hugely disappointing and frustrating period of my life.

When I became a father, I found that although the techniques has changed, the laying scheme had not. We moved to San Diego, and the school was a scant two blocks from our house. My wife and I made an appointment to enroll our two kids. Can they come home for lunch? Was the question. The principal laughed, oh no, if we allowed that, half the kids would not come back!

The School system is maybe the most vital building block of our society, it is the place where our future leaders must go, it is the place that even the folks flipping burgers must go.

Is there an alternative?

Rick Posner suggests that there is. Lives Of Passion takes us into the world of Alternative Schools. A movement that he became involved in in the 1970’s, and has remained in. Rick Posner uses the term Open School, it is a fitting term. Rather than having a strict curriculum, teachers are open to ideas. This method in teaching was, and indeed is viewed with criticality from some. Yet, for a proportion of kids it has proved to be highly effective.

One major gripe that I have heard, and indeed have also said over the years is how unsuited recent school and college graduates are for today’s work force. The employer must invest time and money in ‘beating’ the school mentality out of these people. The Open School system is much more vocational in its approach, and its syllabus much more flexible. For example, if a student expresses interest in a specific industry then efforts are made to obtain internships.

The goal is to have a young person who can be productive on day one of employment.

The No Child Left Behind initiative has in many ways become a victim of the law of unintended consequences. While well meaning in intent, the result has created an even worse overall system. As Rick Posner points out: "As school systems scramble to adapt to the strictures of federally and state mandated student achievement tests, the real purpose of education becomes lost, subordinated to the One Big Test Score and academic achievement."

Any subject outside of the core slips by the wayside, Arts, Social Studies, Physical Education, and maybe most significant of all Social Skills. Making them even less suited to life in the real world!

Rick Posner also points out that although the teaching methods may be unorthodox, they are highly effective, in a poll of ex-students over 90% had attended college, and 85% had obtained a degree. This is far higher than the national average.

Rick Posner makes a convincing argument for this type of alternative learning tool. In fact I can sum up this entire book with a quote that used from William Butler Yeats: "Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire!"

I found Lives Of Passion to be a very thought provoking book. One that deserves to be read, and the ideas to be considered. The approach may not be suited to all kids, but it certainly works for a percentage.

I began this review with a brief description of my High School days, I will conclude on that note. Career Counseling was nil, I had absolutely no clue what I wanted to do work wise, and had no practical skills. Sure, I knew a vast array of ’stuff’ including Latin, but was not much call for schoolboy Latin in the work force. The ability to translate ‘The Romans have long spears’ into ‘Romanus longus fluvus’ (or something similar) did not seem a particularly useful talent.

My own personal epiphany came as a result of my parents running a village pub, more importantly the Bed and Breakfast aspect. A guest that had been staying with us accidentally (on purpose) left a copy of an IBM Fortran Programming manual. I read it cover to cover and I was hooked! In 1972 there were no college courses in computers, few people even knew what one looked like, never mind what they did! Why hadn’t my school told me about this wonderful career direction?

That one single conversation with a visiting scientist and him leaving a book resulted in a 35 year career in the computer world. I like to refer to this as ‘practical’ education not ‘Theoretical’ education.

I strongly urge everyone to read Lives Of Passion.

—Blogger News Network