Cut Loose: On the Importance of Independent Learning Programs

Kellyn Edraney

In an alternate universe, I may have dropped out of high school. I was lucky enough, however, to
be born into a world in which the Pilot Program happened to exist at my school. I began my time in
independant education at the age of 15, after a tumultuous few years in the school system. During that
time, I went from earning As on average to comfortably getting low Cs.This was not a time of great
engagement in my own life, nor was it a time of prolonged inspiration. I skated between depression,
addiction and other forms of disengagement from my own life and future. It was, however, a necessary
precursor to the unfolding of self that would occur as a result of being enrolled in the Pilot.
There are few things more valuable in this world than self actualization. Self actualization is
defined as the realization or fulfillment of ones talents and possibilities, especially considered as a drive
or need present in everyone. I was a slightly younger person then, so accustomed to skillfully playing the
school system, giving just enough to get by, while remaining totally complacent in relationship to the
evolution of myself as a kinder, more wise and educated human being. The Pilot dragged me out of that
space, and I was gradually released into the adult world, where my choices seemed to matter more
profoundly than they had before. For the first time, my personal growth wasnt some side pursuit that my
education only got in the way of, it became my education.
The Pilot Program offers young people an opportunity to experience and learn how to work
skillfully, with increased freedoms, which will be inevitable for them in a few years, regardless. When I
joined the Pilot, I was accustomed to the power struggle that occurred so often in traditional classrooms in
which my yearnings about project ideas or desires to complete homework and express my understanding,
never aligned with the established content. In other words, I wanted to write my own syllabus.
Independant learning programs offer students that choice,
Additionally, the Pilot extends a further opportunity to experience and cultivate discipline of
ones own volition. This is a new experience for students accustomed to experiencing external sources of
discipline, such as the threat of an angry teacher, or a set class time. This creates a pivotal moment, or
series of moments, in which the student essentially elects to sink or swim- to disengage from the work,
even becoming upset, or to rise to meet the occasion, and in the process, become a more empowered
individual.
The student is offered another opportunity; To delve into the most obscure, specific, personally
selected topics one could imagine. I now have my certificate in Therapeutic Herbalism and completed 2
years of a massage program because of the program. Another student created his own small business,
which is still up and running today. Another individual creates his own, meticulously created performance
art pieces- surprisingly cerebral for a Junior in high school. The results of the program are self evident in
that, the depth of work that so frequently occurs in the program is merely a product of genuine personal
interest of the students in their chosen areas of study.
When I consider the future of education, what kind of schooling I would want my children to
receive, I hope it is something like the Pilot program. I hope they are challenged and frustrated, and
inspired and proud of themselves for the things they accomplish through learning. I hope that a broader
acceptance and integration of programs like this begins to occur in our culture. At a time when the truth is
more precious than ever, learning how to learn, as humans, is the most important step we could take.