Alpha_Alternative_School_1972–2012-Yumpu
ALPHA Alternative School—A Lot of Parents Hoping for an Alternative—one of the oldest alternative schools in Canada, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2012. It seemed like a good time to take a look at the lives of some of its earliest students in order to get a sense of the long-term effects of this radical experiment in education. Our idea was to place black and white childhood portraits taken by F. Robert Openshaw in 1978 alongside present-day portraits of the same people taken at ALPHA during the 40th anniversary reunion by Michael Barker, and to contextualize the photographs with portraits in words contributed by the subjects and shaped by Ariel Fielding. The result is a sort of ethnographic art project or a personal history. It was not commissioned by ALPHA, nor was it conceived with any particular agenda in mind, except to present portraits of some interesting people with a common educational background.
ALPHA Alternative School—A Lot of Parents Hoping for an Alternative—one of the oldest alternative schools in Canada, celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2012. It seemed like a good time to take a look at the lives of some of its earliest students in order to get a sense of the long-term effects of this radical experiment in education. Our idea was to place black and white childhood portraits taken by F. Robert Openshaw in 1978 alongside present-day portraits of the same people taken at ALPHA during the 40th anniversary reunion by Michael Barker, and to contextualize the photographs with portraits in words contributed by the subjects and shaped by Ariel Fielding. The result is a sort of ethnographic art project or a personal history. It was not commissioned by ALPHA, nor was it conceived with any particular agenda in mind, except to present portraits of some interesting people with a common educational background.
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- education
- alternative
- toronto
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“I think most kids at ALPHA had a sense
of superiority about the freedom we
had—to learn, to play, to be ourselves—
although for me and my friends, that
eventually transformed into a kind of
dread about what we might be missing,
how hard it was going to be for us
in the ‘real world.’”
I had to go back to get high school sci ence cred its when I decided to study
nurs ing, push ing past the lim i ta tions of what I thought I was good at (art
and lan guage) to dis cover new strengths and apti tudes. It was a rev e la tion
for me when I sat down to write papers on cholera and thalido mide (for OAC
Biology and OAC Chem istry, respec tively) and found myself com pletely
fas ci nated and inspired. I have been a nurse for ten years and I fin ished my
graduate studies at UC San Fran cisco to become a Nurse Prac ti tioner in 2011.
I work in the field of Pal lia tive Care tak ing care of peo ple who are deal ing
with seri ous ill ness or advanced dis ease and help ing to address phys i cal,
emo tional, and spir i tual aspects of illness.
The demo c ra tic struc ture that was built in to ALPHA had an enor mous
influ ence on my life. It is incred i bly empow er ing as a kid to have the level
of involve ment that ALPHA allowed and to have a sense of agency in your
life and in your com mu nity. I value the con nec tions that were cre ated at
ALPHA, the sense of com mu nity, and the sup port that existed between
kids, teach ers, par ents when I was there that con tin ues up to the present.
I’m not nec es sar ily in close touch with the peo ple I knew dur ing my time
at ALPHA, but there’s always a sense of just a few degrees of separation.
One of the things that I appre ci ated dur ing my years at ALPHA was the
sense of refuge it offered. I never knew what ter ri ble mood my father would
be in when I got home from school or when one of his fits of rage would
be directed my way, but I knew that I wouldn’t get yelled at while I was at
school. The worst that could hap pen would be to have Com mit tee called on
me if I did some thing bad or broke one of the kid-defined rules. Although
I don’t think it was some thing I was aware of on a con scious level at the
time, in ret ro spect I’m so grate ful for the safe space and pos i tive adult relation
ships that ALPHA pro vided.
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