Still working to recover. Please don't edit quite yet.
Anarchist U
The Anarchist U is a volunteer-run collective which organizes a variety of courses on arts and sciences. Most courses run for ten weeks, and meet once a week; there are no admission fees. The Anarchist U follows the tradition of free schools in that it is open, non-hierarchic and questions the roles of teachers and students.
Anarchist U is in Toronto ON, Canada. There is no single street address; rather different classes and meetings take place in different community centres and homes throughout the city.
All courses are run non-virtually, classroom style.
Anarchist U is a free school. Of course, many schools are free of charge. However--to paraphrase Richard Stallman--to understand the concept of "free school" you should think of "free" as in "free speech," not as in "free beer." Free schools are schools that allow and facilitate students to pursue their goals in ways that work for them. Students are not forced to learn anything. Teachers are seen as resources of knowledge rather than as authoritarian figures. There has been a long tradition of free schools. Two examples are Summerhill and Stelton , both of which charged a fee.
Anarchist U is free of charge. In some classes students may have to cover for the price of books and photocopies. The total cost should be under $30 per class.
Anarchist U is indeed run using various anarchist principles. These principles include consensus decision-making, decentralized organizing, and a non-hierarchical structure in classes and meetings. Students and teachers are asked to respect these methodologies in classes and meetings, but are not expected to consider themselves anarchists.
These courses are for people interested in education for its own sake.
The process for this is to come to one of our general meetings with a new course proposal. After being asked questions regarding the course, they are asked to briefly leave the room. A decision is made regarding whether class is great as is, needs some revisions, or is not an appropriate class for Anarchist U. We use consensus for decision making.
