First we start with some different assumptions

Abstract

In his book, Open Education: The Informal Classroom, Charles H. Rathhone wrote that “a current danger, especially as open education gains in popularity in the United States, is that some well-meaning Americans will seize upon a few of its practices without fully comprehending their meaning in terms of (the) underlying rationale. They will then learn, I fear, that educational change unaccompanied by an integral, comprehensive philosophy cannot in the long run he sustained.” In this next article, Roland S. Barth, author of Open Education and the American School, gives us the rationale in the form of “assumptions” about learning and knowledge and then ties these in with instructional practices to present an overview of what open education is all about. Barth is principal of the Angier School in Newton, Massachusetts.—Ed.