Do you NEED to go to college?

For many of us, when we were growing up, we were told that going to college was the gateway to a successful life.

Yet, in the 21st century, is this even true any more?

And, when it comes to students in alternative education like Acton Academy Taipei, is this even a desirable expectation when we’re encouraging each individual to pursue their own gifts, heroine’s journey, and ultimate happiness?

Here’s what our founder, Jenny Wang, wants to share:

“As head of Acton Taipei, I strongly believe that university is not the only 'right' path after graduating high school. For instance, I took a gap year after high school to study Chinese in Beijing and to work on a ecology expedition in Borneo, Malaysia. Both were very deliberate choices, as I felt burnt out from my very competitive high school, which did not allow much 'adventure', in terms of traveling and also I felt I missed out on a true immersion experience in Chinese culture. 

But beyond gap years, I completely believe it is best for some to go straight into work, like the homeschooled student, who started a ski school business in Japan at the age of 18. Shortly thereafter, she opened four new extremely successful branches.

There are so many different paths — college is not the only way. If it’s something that you want, it makes a lot of sense to be prepared and have the option available to you, which requires a lot of forward planning.”

If you’d like to learn more about what it takes to prep for a successful college admissions process, join our upcoming livestream event on our Facebook page, where you can ask Lisa Bartle anything you’d like!

Click here to join our upcoming event on December 11th, 1:30pm Taiwan Standard Time or submit your questions for Lisa in advance:

And, here’s more about Lisa Bartle, Director of Counseling, US College Admit:

For over 20 years, Lisa has been working with students, families and schools to help hundreds of international applicants reach their college admission goals in the United States, Canada, and UK. As the former executive director and owner of the Princeton Review Taiwan, she has a unique perspective on how the pressure of standardized tests too often stifles the imagination and how the stress of college admissions saps the pleasure of learning. A recognized expert on university advising and admissions, Lisa has done extensive research, designed original curricula, and developed innovative practices in working with students and their families. She has been an interviewer for the University of Michigan and an application reader at the University of Virginia and has first-hand knowledge of their admission processes. Lisa attended the University of Michigan for her B.A. and the University of Maryland for her J.D. 

So, what types of alternative education ARE there? “體制外” 的實驗教育、另類教育的選擇

Curious about what types of alternative education currently exist in the world? And, wondering how Acton Academy Taipei fits into the mix?

Here’s a quick breakdown, based on Peterson’s blog post, on what kinds of education you can pursue if traditional schooling doesn’t fit you, your child’s temperament, or your family’s philosophies.

Homeschooling

This is likely the most long-standing type of alternative education, in which a child is educated primarily by their parent at home.

Many homeschoolers follow a set curriculum and others piecemeal their studies, pulling from different resources. Homeschooling allows the family to learn together and work on projects as a team, allowing the student to feel supported and assume a leadership role in a safe environment.

It is an incorrect and unfortunate stereotype that homeschoolers never leave home and are woefully un-socialized. Most homeschool families take part in classes, clubs, groups, co-ops and the like to give the homeschooled student a well-rounded education. Many states even have homeschool sports teams and gym classes.

Online Schooling

If you’d like to learn more about online schooling, you can dive deeper by visiting this site here. According to Peterson’s, here’s what they say about online schooling:

Accessibility to technology and the internet has allowed for a rise in children being educated at home through an online school program. Online programs are taught by experienced teachers who follow a curriculum. They teach lessons, interact with their students, give tests and quizzes and keep records of the students’ grades. The services that online schools provide is extremely helpful when it comes to taking some of the pressure off of the homeschool parents’ shoulders.

Unschooling

We’ve been in touch with parents who have children with ADHD and find that unschooling, especially being in nature, has been an incredibly helpful way to encourage their children’s best development.

When a parent wishes to erase the influences of the public school system, time spent unschooling may be the ideal option. Unschooling does not involve any set curriculum or standards. It allows students to freely follow their interests without the constraints of assignments, grades and schedules.

World Schooling

Many expat families or digital nomads believe in world schooling, in which you raise your children in a third culture, different from ones that either parent grew up in. These can be immersion programs or longer stays, and in some countries, the international schools are quite long-standing and prestigious.

World Schooling is something we’re ideally looking to launch in 2019 with Mandarin-language immersion programs for students from around the world to participate in!

This is a great website for you to dive deeper into the best schools in countries around the world.

Private Education

Traditionally, private education was most commonly found at religious academies.

While far less common, there are some secular private schools scattered throughout the country. Sometimes going under the names of Democratic schools, Waldorf Schools or Montessori Schools, they all offer a unique approach to non-public education. With an emphasis placed on nature studies, independence and creativity, secular private schools attract many non-traditional students and families.

Military School

Military school used to be the thing of threats made by parents to misbehaving youth. Now, it is a viable education option for students looking for high-quality academics and post-graduation opportunities.

Military schools have a low dropout rate compared to that of public schools. They also boast excellent sports teams and the chance to learn independence and respect. Many military schools are boarding schools where the students live on the school’s campus, but others may offer schooling services to local students without requiring that they live on campus.

So… where does Acton Academy Taipei fit?

We’d like to say that we’re a non-traditional educational opportunity that’s a great balance of private education, world schooling, homeschooling, and even a bit of unschooling!

With so many quality options available, including forest schools that truly emphasize nature, We Grow (via We Work’s collaborative co-working space) that emphasizes conscious education rooted in entrepreneurialism, and even tiny schools, what elements of schooling do love for your children? What would you like to be even more disruptive?

“體制外” 的實驗教育、另類教育 (alternative education)的選擇

除了”體制內”的傳統教育之外，你知道全球目前有哪些 “體制外” 的實驗教育、另類教育的選擇？想知道台北愛騰教育 (Acton Academy Taipei)如何在這麼多元的選擇當中，佔有一席之地？

當傳統體制學校不適合你或者孩子的特質，又或是與你的家庭觀念有出入時，我們利用Peterson's 美加留學資訊網的提出的一個快速分類方式，為您介紹國際間多元的另類教育選擇？

在家教育/在家自學（Homeschooling）

另類教育中歷史最悠久的，大概就是由家長在家教育子女的在家自學。

許多在家自學的家庭根據一套課綱，也有些家庭擷取各種不同的學習資源後自承一套課程。在家自學，讓家庭成員可以一起共同學習，以團隊的方式協作；在這樣安全的環境下，讓孩子感受到支持，並承擔領導的責任。

「在家自學的孩子從未離開家庭、缺乏社會化」，這是一個普遍錯誤的既定印象。事實上，許多在家教育的家庭參與各種課程、活動、組織、社區合作團體，讓孩子得到健全的教育。有些地區甚至還有在家教育團體的體育隊伍和運動社團。

線上/遠距教育（Online schooling）

關於網絡教育，Peterson認為：

"科技與網路的便利，讓孩子在家也能透過網路課程進行學習。網路課程通常由資深的講師，根據一套課程來授課。他們不僅教授課程，也與學生互動，並透過測驗和考試來記錄學生的表現。網路教育尤其能減輕在家教育家長的負擔和壓力。" 如果對網路教育想要有更深入的瞭解，可以參考均一教育平台，中華開放教育平台openedu，育網ewant開放教育平台，英文部分，我們建議可以看看Accredited Schools Online這個網站。

非學校化教育（Unschooling）

我們接觸ADHD（注意力不足過動症）孩子的家長時發現，非學校化教育的方式，特別是在大自然的環境中，對協助與促進孩子的個人發展有相當大的幫助。

當一個家長希望能減少公立學校系統的影響，花點時間進行“非學校化教育”或許是個不錯的選擇。非學校化教育不採用任何一套課綱，容許孩子自由地依照個人的興趣，同時沒有任何功課、分數和時間表的限制。

世界教育/國際教育（World schooling）

許多移民家庭或數位遊牧 (digital nomad) 相信世界即教育，讓孩子在非雙親的原生文化的 “第三文化” 環境中成長。這些可以是沉浸式教學或在某些地區長期居留，尤其是在一些擁有歷史悠久、好口碑的國際學校的國家。

我們期望在2019年啟動這樣的世界教育，讓來自世界各國的學生參與的沉浸式中文課程。

你也可以透過這個World School 這個網站來瞭解世界各國最好的國際學校。

私立實驗學校

在美國，傳統上，多數私立學校是由宗教團體或財團法人成立的；有少數的私立實驗學校會在美國國內各地有分校，但這情形相對少見。

這類學校有時是被稱為民主學校 (Democratic schools)、華德福學校或蒙特梭利學校。這些非公立學校提供一些特定的取向。透過重視大自然教育、獨立學習和創意思考，私立實驗學校吸引許多非傳統的家庭和學生。

美國這類私立學校與台灣體制內的“實驗小學”或是“實驗中學”不太一樣，上述狀況乃以美國境內的校制為例。

軍校

在美國的教育體系中，軍校，過去是被家長用來恐嚇或送管行為不良的青少年。如今，它已成為學生在物色高素質教育、畢業後就業機會的一個選項。

比起一般公立學校，軍校的輟學率相對較低。他們也強調其優異的各類運動隊伍，以及學習獨立與尊重的機會。許多軍校都是住宿型學校，學生都住在學校宿舍內，另有一些則提供在地學生就讀、不要求住校。

上述軍校狀況以美國國內為主，看台灣的狀況不完全一樣。目前台灣僅有中正預校招收高中以下的學生，每年招收不超過200位新生。

所以，台北愛騰屬於哪一類？

我們是一種非傳統體制內的實驗教育/ 另類教育，可以說是綜合了上述私立實驗學校、世界教育、在家教育、甚至也包含了非學校化教育的概念，取得平衡的教育選項。 在現有這麽多的高品質教育選擇當中，包括重視大自然的 forest schools 、透過共同工作空間協作並重視創業精神的We Grow、甚至是微型學校 tiny schools，你希望自己孩子的教育具有什麼元素？還是你喜歡更不一樣的？

What is an Acton Badge? Is it like getting a 'grade'?

Sending your child to Acton Academy Taipei means that they’ll be developing skills that can’t be easily quantified — things like self-management, self-governance, character, high-level communication skills, learning how to learn and opportunities to dive deeply into areas of your greatest passions and gifts.

Badges are a way to showcase this work and translate them into a traditional transcript, so your children, also known as Eagles here at Acton, can compete with their peers in traditional education environments.

Watch this quick 2-minute video to see what these Eagles feel badges mean to them.

So… what is a badge?

Think of it as a long-term effort focused on a particular discipline. Each badge is a process. There’s a large quantity of work reviewed several times by several people.

In traditional academic language, a badge is comparable to completing a course. Yet, instead of getting a grade, a badge is awarded only when excellence is achieved.

In Asian educational environments especially, you might be wanting to know, “How does a badge look on a transcript?”

We believe that it’s best explained in this Acton Academy Parents post written by the main Acton Academy co-founder, Laura Sandefer:

Here is a sample of our Transcript Acton.

Completion of a Badge = mastery = A. (High 360 scores would add a “+”.)

We are a competency-based learning environment. Mastery is the goal. Eagles work until they master  their learning goals. Then, they progress to the next level.  If a badge is not completed, the grade is “Incomplete.”

This is why that last sprint to compile their work after completing the requirements of a badge is so critical to the Eagles. It is the final step and is the proof of their hard work.

And this is where our parenting support comes in most fruitfully.

We especially like this part of the post, which encourages parent participation:

When all the required work for a badge is done, the badge is not yet achieved. It must be compiled and submitted. Ask your Eagles about whether or not they’ve scheduled time to compile this work for badge approval; then check in on their progress; ask if they are excited about the work or worried they missed something. Finally, celebrate the hard work of compiling the badge.

And, what about admissions to future schools?

Admissions officers may ask to see the work behind each letter grade. This is where Eagles will shine. (Personally, I hope Eagles will have the opportunity to show their full portfolios in an interview. Acton Eagles will knock the socks of savvy recruiters if they get the chance to sit down and talk with them. I’ve sat in on one of these interviews and it was pure bliss. By the end of the interview, they wanted to hire the Eagle for a teaching job rather than merely accept as a student.)

We have an entire collection of work from each Eagle for every badge achieved. This work is above and beyond what is required from traditional courses in middle schools and high schools across America. I am so impressed with the work the Eagles accomplish!

Another great question is: How do badges translate to traditional subject requirements?

Translating the work of a completed badge into traditional course content is necessary and is part of our curriculum planning.  For example, a traditional school’s “English 101” in high school equates at Acton to 6 genre pieces, 4 deep books and 1 No Red Ink badge. The Acton curriculum is easily mapped to the core requirements of high school graduates for acceptance to competitive colleges.

Unfortunately, the most important accomplishments at Acton such as Apprenticeships, Leadership, Project Management and Quest Creation don’t translate easily under traditional academic subjects like Math, Science, History and English.

In order to move up, every Eagle at Acton is expected to earn a certain amount of badges. Each student must receive a certain 360 score by their peers on kindness and tough-mindedness. Every person must earn a certain average of weekly points. At Acton, we don’t believe that everyone must do this at the same pace or level. We know that it will take a unique amount of time and growth for each person to be able to hit these standards. But we believe that every child is a genius, and fully capable of doing the work in order to earn more freedom. That’s what Acton is all about.

More importantly, how does this all translate to the “real world”?

If we want to be prepared for our true Hero’s Journeys, we cannot be accustomed to being pampered. In the real world, if you want to work for Google, you have to be good enough! You have to work incredibly hard to meet the standard! If you want to be a professional athlete, it doesn’t matter how hard the journey is, results are what matter. No one will ask how hard you tried to score a touchdown, they will ask if you scored the touchdown.”

What are your concerns or appreciations with how Acton differs from traditional schools in awarding badges over grades? How do you feel “excellence” is defined?

"How Puberty Kills Girls' Confidence" 青春期如何扼殺少女的信心

According to a recent article in The Atlantic, conscious parents might do a great job of raising confident girls in their early years, yet once they hit puberty, their confidence starts to drop dramatically — creating substantial implications long into adulthood.

Even if you have young gutsy girls who play as hard as boys on the playground (or even harder) and do incredibly well in school, as puberty sets in, these same daughters can somehow “transform into unrecognizably timid, cautious, risk-averse versions of their former self.”

Until the age of 12, there was virtually no difference in confidence between boys and girls.

But, because of the drop-off girls experienced during puberty, by the age of 14 the average girl was far less confident than the average boy. According to the survey completed by the article’s authors, girls went from saying things like:

“I make friends really easily—I can go up to anyone and start a conversation” and “I love writing poetry and I don’t care if anyone else thinks it’s good or bad.”

To

“I feel like everybody is so smart and pretty and I’m just this ugly girl without friends,” and “I feel that if I acted like my true self that no one would like me.”

This is an especially big problem, because the lack of confidence means taking fewer risks, and over the span of one’s life, it’s the risk-taking and rebounding that proves most fruitful for becoming a healthy adult.

What can you do about nurturing confidence, so that it sticks from an early age?

1. Get The Confidence Code for Girls.
   
   

2. Teach your daughters how to reflect upon experiences they’ve had without attaching meaning to the outcomes or results. 
   
   For example, since science has shown that women tend to be prone to rumination, encourage your daughters to look at experiences objectively, learning how to separate behavior and outcome from personal worth.
   
   

3. Be the outlier within society.
   
   Rather than following the cultural trend that rewards girls for people-pleasing, perfectionist behaviors because it makes your life easier for a child to fall in line with what you want to do now, encourage a defiant nature. Support your daughter in asking the hard questions. Allow her to be disruptive and follow her own hero’s journey.
   
   

4. Help your daughter if she’s setting impossibly high standards for herself, by encouraging self-compassion practices, such as mindfulness, meditation, or journaling.
   
   

5. Make it a safe space to fail.
   
   It’s the “making mistakes” in life that help us learn, but if we don’t make it okay for our children to know that failure is okay and taking risks is worth it, then they won’t have the foundation upon which to launch themselves into C-suite careers or entrepreneurial endeavors.
   
   

6. Sign your daughter up for a competitive sport, debate team, or a cause they believe in.
   
   Sports are a great way for your daughter to experience loss, failure, and resilience. Yet, the same skills can be acquired by trying out for a school play, canvassing for an environmental cause, and more — “as long as there is a move outside of her comfort zone, and a process of struggle and mastery, confidence will usually be the result.” Besides, given that 94% of C-suite female executives played on a competitive sport when they were younger, there’s something to be said about learning these life skills early on.

You can even get this motto printed on a t-shirt: Failure is okay. Risk is worth it.

Remember, up until now, girls have internalized the opposite message — if we can be the right leaders inspiring them to show up in their innate brilliance, which may mean that we as parents also have to challenge ourselves with our confidence too, then we’ll all be the better for it.

What ways are you encouraging confidence in your children, especially your girls?

青春期如何扼殺少女的信心

根據The Atlantic的一篇文章中提到，比較有意識的家長會在女孩的成長初期，努力提升她的自信心，這是因為一旦女孩進入青春期，她們的自信心會驟降，所造成的影響之大，甚至會連帶到成年後的生活。

即便你有一個在遊樂場玩得跟男孩子一樣瘋（甚至更瘋狂）、在校表現優異的女兒，一旦進入青春期，明明是同樣一個女兒，會不知何故地「轉變成一個與之前迥然不同的自己，變得膽小、小心翼翼、抗拒冒險」。

一直到12歲為止，男孩和女孩在信心方面實際上並沒什麼差別。

不過，由於女孩在青春期經歷的落差，一般女孩在14歲時相較同齡的男孩缺乏信心。根據文章作者所完成的研究，女孩從類似：

「我真的很容易交到朋友，我可以和任何人交談。」或是「我喜歡寫詩，我不在乎其他人認為我的詩寫得好或是寫得不好。」

變成：

「我覺得好像每個人都很聰明，很美，而我只是一個難看又沒有朋友的女生」和「我覺得如果我做真正的自己，沒有人會喜歡我。」

這真是一個很嚴重的問題，因為缺乏信心意味著缺乏冒險，而在整個人生歷程當中，冒險和復原（rebounding）已被證實是形成一個健康的人生最重要的因素。

該如何從小培養孩子自信心，且持續到長大人成人呢？

1. 讀這本書The Confidence Code for Girls. (「女孩信心密碼」)

2. 教你的女兒如何反思過去的經驗，但不為這些結果附加任何意義。比如說， 科學已經證明女孩較擅長思考，那就鼓勵你女兒客觀地看待這些經驗，學習將個人價值，與行為和結果區分開來。

3. 成為社會中的異類：與其跟隨社會主流文化中那種認為女生應該討好他人和完美主義，不如鼓勵「抗拒」的本性，因為讓孩子跟著你的規矩走，其實只是讓你自己的生活更輕鬆。鼓勵你女兒問很難的「硬問題」，鼓勵她顛覆傳統，踏上自己的英雄旅程。

4. 如果你的女兒為自己訂下過高的標準，你可以鼓勵她自我疼惜、善待自己（Self Compassion），比如正念減壓、靜坐冥想、寫日記等，都是不錯的練習。

5. 創造一個容許失敗的安全空間：生命中的錯誤會幫助我們學會，若我們沒有讓孩子認為失敗是ok的，且願意承擔這個風險，那她們將缺乏讓她努力邁向更高的成就或事業的基礎。

6. 幫你女兒報名一個競賽性運動、辯論隊或一個他們支持的理念。運動是一個讓孩子經歷失落、失敗、然後恢復的好方法。另外像是透過學校活動，提倡自己所支持的環境議題等很多其他方法，也可以得到同樣的效果。重點是，要讓她踏出舒適圈，經歷帶有挫折與掌握的過程，爾後獲得自信。另外，有鑑於94%的女性高階主管，在年少時都曾參與競賽性運動，因此關於學習這些技能，真的是越早越好。

你甚至客製化一件T恤，上面寫著 —— Failure is okay. Risk is worth it. 失敗是ok的，冒險是值得的。

請記得，直到目前為止，女孩的內心蘊含著完全相反的訊息。如果我們能正確的引導，啟發他們展現與生俱來的光芒；同時間，我們作為家長也要有自信能面對這樣的自我挑戰。那麼，彼此都會成為更好的自己。

那你會用什麼方法來培養孩子的自信心，特別是女孩子的自信心呢？

What Your Child Will Get from Acton

Given that Acton Academy is a different type of education for your child, what can you expect your child will graduate with?

We love featuring fellow Acton Academy websites and what they’re doing, which is especially so with Kuala Lumpur, as we’re both based in Asia!

Here’s what we especially loved about what students can get by participating in Acton — and it’s what we highlight here at Acton Academy Taipei, as well:

• Character Strengths. Students practice being conscientious, curious, entrepreneurial, perseverant, self-aware, self-regulated, and socially intelligent.

• Cognitive Skills. Students develop strong habits of the mind, such as communication, inquiry, analysis, and synthesis, diagnosis, innovation, reasoning, and managing complexity.

• Global Citizenship. Students spend time abroad, collaborate with foreign counterparts, and learn to communicate in another language. Our world is increasingly interconnected – our students need to have a global lens and empathy across cultures.

• Creation. Students build their creative confidence to develop ideas and solutions through design thinking, engineering, leadership, and through the expression of artistic and emotional beauty.

• Purpose. Students explore and develop a talent or passion during their years at KLS, which will be highlighted in their portfolio.

• Independence. Students develop the capacity to set, meet, and hold themselves accountable for meaningful goals on their own.

Foundational fluencies include:

• Students achieve fluency in reading, writing, math, world languages, computing, and digital literacy.

• They are also exposed to deeper learning concepts in wellness, integrated arts, integrated science, civics, physics, chemistry, biology, finance, global societies, economics, and statistics.

Portfolio

• While at KLS, students build a portfolio of work that displays mastery across academic and non-academic domains, from core skills to global citizenship, sciences, arts, and beyond.

Transitions

• Students who meet the requirements of our graduate profile are fully prepared to achieve success and significance in college, career, and life.  

What do you think about these types of results for your kids?

What does a student need in the 21st century?

The World Economic Forum recently published its list of the skills every 21st century student needs.

But, it’s not what traditional schools have usually valued — especially in Asian cultures. When it comes to regular education, the focus has been on grades, tests, and rigorous rote memorization as opposed to developing enhanced skill sets that prove valuable for the long-term.

For example, instead of memorizing multiplication tables, what if you taught a child the philosophy behind exponential growth that could then be applied to everything from entrepreneurialism to balancing a checkbook?

Here are the skills 21st century students are now recommended to have:

• Complex problem solving

• Critical thinking

• Creativity

• Communication

• Collaboration

• Curiosity

• Initiative

• Persistence/Grit

• Leadership

• Adaptability

• Social and cultural awareness

These skills transcend time and place.

At Acton Academy, we believe in the HOW over the WHAT.

With an ever-evolving world economy and social structure – especially when it comes to one’s own hero’s journey – how can smart education properly teach skills for the future in the here-and-now?

It requires disruptive teaching and learning.

Rather than the large-scale, factory-like system of decades past, students today thrive on personalized learning, mixed-age classrooms, and Socratic dialogue.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all, but rather a one-person-can-change-the-world-if-we-inspire-them-to-do-so.

Be sure you have a great teacher who engages students and can truly see their individual strengths and areas of improvement. Great teaching occurs when teachers (or anyone for that matter) is free to live to their greatest potential and to learn from any mistakes by trying and doing.

Facilitate independent thinking, because it’s this positive deviance that creates empires, change-makers, and world influencers.

What hasn’t been working in your view of education? And, to really challenge you, what are you afraid to let go of as an expectation for your child that could really give them room to thrive?

What is "Conscious Parenting" all about?

Dr. Shefali Tsabary is one of the world’s renowned experts on “conscious parenting,” a movement towards understanding that our children are sovereign beings and our role as their parents is to respect them as whole individuals with needs, preferences, and thoughts all to their own.

What she cautions most is that in order to be a truly conscious parent, it’s essential that you “do the work” on yourself.

Acton believes that every “Guide” (in traditional education, they would be known as a “teacher”) approaches every child as a genius on their own hero’s journey. Given this premise, they’re always on a deep soul-searching mission, and instead of merely being the receiver of their parents’ psychological and spiritual legacy, children can function as a beautiful invitation into each parents’ own evolution of self.

Dr. Tsabary believes that when parents are able to learn alongside their children, “power, control, and dominance become an archaic language. Instead, mutual kinship and spiritual partnership are the focus of the parent-child journey.”

Ultimately, children serve as mirrors of their parents’ forgotten selves, and any parent who is brave and courageous enough to look into that reflection has an opportunity to deepen their relationship with their child, as well as with their own inner state of wholeness.

Where are YOU on your parenting journey?

How are you reflecting upon what’s happening in your world to understand the impact and legacy you’re creating for your child?

Want to learn more from Dr. Tsabary? Order her book here.