I did not like high school. If you had asked me at the time, I probably would’ve said it was okay, but in looking back on it, it really wasn’t. I didn’t like it. I was bored, and my boredom was compounded by the fact that I felt like the vast majority of stuff I was learning had no relevance to my life. Oh sure, there were a few notable exceptions, like music theory and math,–I always liked math–but by the time I graduated, I was so ready to move onto learning something that I was actually passionate and excited about. For a couple of years, that was music. And then it was engineering for three more. And I’m still amazed that I even managed to find the field of engineering after the battery of lousy science teachers I had in high school completely turned me off to science.
So when I walked into The Sustainability Workshop last week to hang out for the morning, it was like walking into a whole new educational world. Nothing could have been more different from the high school experience I had. High school seniors were working in light-filled rooms on projects they were genuinely excited about. There was meaningful discourse and witty banter going on between teachers and students. And the building itself…well, let’s just say it’s about the furthest away you can get from the drab gray environment I spent four years of my life in. It was exhilarating to say the least.