Foxfire notes

In 1966, Elliot Wigginton, a high school English teacher, began a writing project based on his students' collecting oral histories from local residents. They published these articles in a magazine format which grew to be Foxfire magazine and ultimately and 11-volume anthology of Foxfire books.

It remains an extraordinary effort.

In the introduction to volume six in that series, he presents a list of “principles or truths” to “measure how any given public school is doing, or how far it has to go.”

I like them.

1) Every detail in the physical environment of a school, no matter how small, matters and contributes in a cumulative way to the overall tone.

2) Students must be allowed a measure of control over that environment, and a degree of decision-making responsibility within it.

3) All courses, to the fullest extent possible, should be experiential - rooted in the real.

4) The school and the community should be as one. Students and teachers must engage directly with the community-at-large, forging two-way relationships that not only educate, but also endure and make a difference in the quality of life.

5) There should be an atmosphere inside the school, fostered by the principal, of fermentation, excitement, and anticipation - the feeling that something is happening that is good and worth being a part of - all laced with a generous dose of the unexpected.

Words to live by.