At Brooklyn Free School, A Movement Reborn With Liberty And No Testing For All
Posted: 11/30/2012 8:38 am EST Updated: 11/30/2012 1:30 pm EST
NEW YORK -- On a recent Wednesday morning at the Brooklyn Free School, a class was in session. Ten students, ranging in age from about 12 to 16, sat around a table having a heated debate about chemistry. And superpowers.
"Those elements don't really go together," said one boy in a hoodie and glasses. "Or I don't think they go together."
"But that would make it a good power," another boy piped in. "Cause they're all so different. It'd be awesome to get all those elements together in one guy."
"Maybe," The boy in the hoodie replied. "Let's say maybe."
This was Chemistry: The Gathering, a class where students were creating an "elemental" version of the popular card game, "Magic: The Gathering," involving different characters with specific chemical powers. Its curriculum was approved by the students themselves, just like all of the classes at Brooklyn Free School, a completely democratic K-12 private school occupying four floors of a quaint
