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Beyond the Blackboard: Building Character in Public Schools

Thursday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m.

Thursday, September 24 at 7:00 p.m.

From American RadioWorks: In the 1940s, a British headmaster named Kurt Hahn set up a wilderness school to teach young men the skills they needed to survive World War II - things like leadership, persistence, and working together. Hahn believed these were skills conventional schools should focus on too. Fifty years later, Hahn's ideas about education inspired the founding of a network of public schools in the United States. Students in these schools outperform their peers when it comes to test scores and graduation rates - and also motivation, academic engagement and problem-solving ability.

This documentary explores the "Expeditionary Learning" approach, traces the history of ideas that led to its inception, and investigates what American schools could learn from its success.