Ed Student Organizes Experimental School

A freshman proctor and third-year Ed School student is working with the help of over 30 Harvard undergraduates to establish an experimental school that will encourage learning through "direct experience."

"Experience and integration are the great unmet needs in education today. It is to begin answering these needs that we are founding Tunbridge," Jan D. Rakoff, the Lionel proctor who is directing the starting of the school, said.

Tunbridge-which is scheduled to open in the summer of 1973-will operate on a two-year cycle beginning every other July. One hundred students of both sexes, ages 16-20, will participate in the two-year program that could be taken in place of 11th and 12th grade.

Dick Dybvig, Turnbridge's co-founder, has pledged the school 80 acres of land in Tunbridge, Vermont. He will supervise the physical development of the school.

Rakoff has organized the undergraduate volunteers into seven task forces of four to five members each that are working on planning and fund raising for the school. He is also training a small group of students to make presentations on behalf of the school before groups of potential supporters.

"We are going down to New York in early December to make our first serious effort for financial support," Rakoff said. He plans to visit several foundations that might back the school, as well as to hold dinners for individuals who are interested in the school.

The Tunbridge program will revolve around student-run and initiated projects. Students involved in a project will be assisted by a member of the Tunbridge "Network."

"The Network consists of a large number of cooperating individuals, groups and organizations in all fields and dispersed over a wide geographical area," Rakoff said. Faculty members at Tunbridge would come from the Network and students doing off-campus projects would get assistance from other Network members.

Rakoff is looking for a diverse student body, both in terms of intelligence and economic background. "If I want to prove my point I can't have just super kids," he added.

Rakoff hopes that the school will not only be a success in itself, but that it will serve as a model for widespread innovation in education.