Dear Peter, 

	Sam Guyton mentioned to me that he had met you and that I
might write to you and share some of my ideas for mentoring in
education.  I have been thinking a lot lately but writing only a
little, so I myself also have a need to set some of my ideas out.  Sam
didn't mention why you were interested in a mentoring approach to
education, or in my school in particular, but I hope this general
description gives you some of what you were looking for.  I'll jump
right in now; feel free to write or call me at (802) 728-5315 with any
questions that I leave unanswered.

	I am setting up an elementary school in central Vermont (most
likely in East Randolph or Randolph).  The school will open in
September.  In the mean time, I am setting up a summer camp/learning
program along the same principles and with the same structure.  These
will be called the Hurricane Hill School and the Hurricane Hill Summer
Program, named after the hill near my home.  The summer program and
at least some of the school activities will take place here on my
property (actually my father's property -- 15 acres with one primary
and two secondary dwellings). The property is available in part because
my father recently remarried and moved out -- at a perfect time
because I just graduated from Hampshire College and am hot and eager
to do the school.  The staff will be living on the premises, in the
available dwellings, for both the summer program and the school.

	The 20 children at the school will range from five to thirteen
years old, and we will have 8 staff members, along with myself as
Director.  The staff will be college students or recent college
graduates who come for anywhere from a semester to a year or more.  We
have a basic plan for organizing the day and the curriculum, though we
are assuming that this plan will evolve.  As of right now, the
children will be divided roughly by age level into four groups (5-6,
6-9, 9-11, 11-13 years of age) with two staff members assigned to each
group of about five children.  These staff members will be familiar
with the curriculum (in fact they will have developed it, using other
curriculums for reference).  My obligation as Director is to hire
staff who believe that there is value in thinking, talking, reading,
doing, and learning.  From there, our goal as staff is to figure out
what exactly are the most relevant parts of the curriculum for
particular children at particular times and how to share these
particular lessons with these particular students.  We have at least
five kinds of interaction in which this learning will take place: age
grouped, staff-initiated activities; mixed-age staff-initiated
activities, individual staff-child activities; solitary child
activities; child-initiated activities.  Clearly, these activities are
the same as one would expect to find in any school; our school differs
in part because of our favorable staff ratio (5 children to 2 staff),
and in part because of the philosophy.

	So let me describe a day at the Hurricane Hill School.  In the
morning, the age groups meet with one or both of their staff mentors
for an hour or more.  There will likely be some lessons from the
curriculum -- perhaps math or grammar.  One of the important parts of
my philosophy is that general skills are more valuable than specific
skills.  For instance, the ability to verbalize one's reservations,
and the habit of doing what one thinks one should (integrity), are
more important than particular math skills.  Thus, many people ask me,
"What will you do when the child doesn't want to do anything in the
curriculum?"  What we will do is naturally context-dependent, but the
general form of what we will do is to help the child verbalize his
reservations.  We will then explain exactly why we believe a
particular lesson is valuable and help him either embrace the activity
if he now agrees, or verbalize his new reservations.  It is then up to
the child whether or not to participate in the activity -- if all the
children in an age group are thus opposed to an activity, the mentor
would ask if they had some other ideas of what the group should be
doing, and thereby encourage that most vital of habits in the child,
to do what one thinks one should.  My experience with children, as
well as the experience of hundreds of educators everywhere, shows me
that this basic philosophy works very well -- that children are so
curious, and so responsive to genuineness, that there is no need or
even benefit to the kind of power relationship upon which the public
schools typically depend.  Besides these small-group learning
activities each morning, we also have the opportunity to make
individualized lessons for particular children for particular skills
-- either taught by a staff member or another child.

	I should also say a few things about this "curriculum" I am
mentioning.  First of all, it is organized in a different form from
most curriculums -- part of it lists specific or general skills and
knowledge, part lists important human virtues.  It is definitely not a
list of activities, and definitely not a chronological master plan
which must be followed.  We will be taking account of the ages at
which children in public schools are learning particular skills, and I
expect to have more success in learning those things than the public
schools, although our "curriculum" will be broader and more flexible
than theirs.  Particular human virtues (consideration, inner
awareness, a passion for ideas, integrity...), skills, and knowledge
may be measured in many ways and taught in many ways.  The best way to
teach consideration, for instance, may be a combination of example,
sharing one's genuine feelings of pain when one feels pain, and
discussion about the nature of feelings.  The most gifted teachers
simultaneously manage to teach children several human virtues, as well
as skills and knowledge.  I think I can often do this; my goal is to
help the staff learn how to do this, for it is the difference between
a good teacher and a great teacher.  But we will be quite successful,
too, insofar as we learn one thing at a time -- as opposed to the
dismaying situation in most classrooms where many children don't even
get that.

	Now, either before or after these early morning age groups
will be a school meeting, at which staff will present the activities
they would like to do for the rest of the day.  Each staff member will
typically offer one activity per day -- perhaps painting, theater,
music, writing, hiking, gardening, complicated words, field trips,
foreign languages, psychology, mythology.  Before too long as the year
progresses, I expect that the children will also be proposing
activities.  For the rest of the day, children will choose which
activities they would like to do.  Some children may need some help
from their mentors in designing their plan for the day, especially the
youngest ones.  It may even happen that the youngest group chooses to
stay together for much of the day, rather than mixing in with the
older kids.  The final bit of structure I should mention is an
optional Thursday night overnight at the school or elsewhere.

	Well, that gives you a little picture of the school.  I am
hoping to raise funds primarily through tuition.  The staff and myself
will be paid depending on how many kids we end up getting, and how
much they can pay.  I would ideally like to find other financial
support; I think this is an important model which could greatly
improve both elementary and college education, so if I am able to sell
my idea well then perhaps I will find a foundation which would like to
give it a try.  In the mean time, I am learning all about zoning,
taxes, and health departments.  Now I realize why the "administration"
budget of institutions is so large!  I hope you found this letter
interesting, and as I said feel free to call with any further
questions.  And if you happen to be in the area in the next year or
two, feel free to come by for a visit.  

Sincerely yours,

Chris Kawecki