No homework, no grades, no failure. Does this sound like a school that's too good to be true? Or, depending on your viewpoint, a school too bad to be of any educational value? Such a school was created in 1907 by a revolutionary educator, Marietta Johnson, in an experimental utopian community in Fairhope, Alabama. It was known as the School of Organic Education.

In 2005, the school lives on; I was a teacher there for three years. One day, not long after I'd been hired, the school's director entered my classroom and paused just inside the door. Then he walked over to me and said, "I believe you've found your niche."

I looked around my prekindergarten classroom and had to laugh. At my previous teaching job, I probably would have been fired for promoting mass chaos in the classroom.

In one corner, several boys had large wooden blocks strewn about and were constructing their own version of a superhighway system. In the opposite corner, two girls were finger-painting a rainbow on the window. In the kitchen center, Bailey had dumped all the plastic dishes out of the dishpan and was using it as a boat, scooting across the floor to destinations unknown. Bobby the pirate had her in his sights. Adventure was afoot.

At a table in the center of the room, two students from one of the older classes were helping the little ones compose stories. They wrote down whatever the children dictated, thus practicing their own writing and spelling as the preschoolers exercised their imaginations. Later on we would put all these stories together, with illustrations, and produce our own book.

I think Marietta Johnson would have approved.

Then

Johnson's philosophy of education was based on the premise that a child is a growing organism, and that that growth cannot be forced but must unfold naturally within the organism itself. Schools, therefore, should provide the most ideal environment possible in which the child can be nourished and nurtured toward physical, mental, and emotional health. She believed that the imposition of external standards produced self-consciousness and stifled the natural learning process.

How did all this work, exactly?

First, there were no tests and no grading system. Children were grouped according to chronological age, and no one was ever "left back." It was assumed that every child would reach his or her potential on his or her own developmental timetable. Johnson strongly believed that students should be motivated solely by the desire to learn, and that the inner satisfaction of accomplishment was the natural and best reward.

One of the most controversial aspects of the School of Organic Education was that its curriculum did not include reading or mathematics for students younger than eight. Johnson's studies of child development had led her to conclude that introducing symbols such as letters and numbers would artificially force abstract thinking on an organism that was not yet developed enough to deal with it. Doing so, she believed, would damage children's nervous systems.

Instead of being taught facts, Johnson believed, children should be helped to understand their experiences. The typical Organic Education classroom was filled with materials for creative activities--clay, blocks, paints, sand, tools, and whatever other materials the teacher deemed conducive to imaginative play would be kept where children had free access to them. There were no individual desks, but rather a large room with tables and plenty of open floor space.

Johnson strongly believed that "living is learning, and learning is living." The assumption was that any kind of wholesome activity served as an educational experience. A child playing with wooden blocks--stacking and watching them fall, lining them up to make "roads," comparing smaller and larger blocks--was actually learning many things at once, from hand-eye coordination to math to physics. Because Johnson also believed that such learning extended to the world outside of school, homework was never assigned--experiences in the home and community were deemed to have as much educational value as those at school.

The School of Organic Education set no specific curriculum for the early elementary level. Each teacher developed her or his own methods, based on the school's basic philosophy. It was the teacher's responsibility to judge the program's success by the level of joy and enthusiasm the children exhibited. For the most part, students chose their activities themselves. The curriculum thus followed, rather than dictated, the children's interests. If a child found a turtle on the way to school, part or all of that day might be devoted to the study of turtles, and of reptiles in general. The teacher might have had another lesson plan in mind, but flexibility was an essential trait for Organic Education teachers.

Typically, the daily routine included music (singing, dancing, musical games), story time, creative handwork, art, and plenty of time for free play--particularly outdoors. Marietta Johnson believed that play was an important educational experience for children. Her theory advanced the idea that long spaces of undirected activity always resulted in the development of initiative and resourcefulness. Children who grew up in this type of atmosphere would become adults who were creative and self-motivated--traits that would serve them well in all areas of life.

As students moved into higher grades, the curriculum gradually became more structured, though the overall methods remained essentially the same. Traditional subjects--language, literature, math, science, social studies, etc.--were covered, along with music, drama, art, and other forms of creative work. Group projects of any sort were always preferred to lectures and paperwork. If a new building was needed on campus, it would likely be the students who did much of the planning, designing, and even construction.

Graduates of the School of Organic Education tended to excel on college entrance exams. Self-direction and initiative, which are often the downfall of college freshmen from traditional schools, came naturally to Organic alumni, most of whom went on to be highly successful in their chosen careers.

NOW

All that was a century ago, and Marietta Johnson's era is long past. It might be thought that her School of Organic Education was a quaint idea that, like its graduates, flourished in its own time--that such a school could not function in this day and age. But the Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education is still alive and well at the ripe old age of 98. Still, many say that the school is past its prime, and in a sense perhaps they are right. Nowadays, the school struggles every year to keep enrollment up and expenditures down.

Probably the most frequently asked question is whether the school is accredited. Like many private schools, it is not. For this reason, even parents who send their children to the Organic School often transfer them to public school when they reach high school age. Consequently, due to reduced enrollment, the school was forced to close its high school program for several years.

However, Organic School students who do transfer to public school usually find themselves ahead of their grade level. They have no trouble adapting to testing, grades, and homework. The most common complaint heard from these young people is that they don't enjoy school as much as they did at Organic.

Organic education has its detractors. Marietta Johnson's theories, revolutionary in her own time, are even more so today, and run counter to those of the public education system. One of the problems is that organic education is a philosophy without a well-defined methodology. Although Johnson was often pressed for a more structured blueprint for an organic education program, she insisted that the question itself reflected a basic lack of understanding. To Johnson, educational methods--even philosophies--should be subservient to the goal of discerning and meeting the needs of each individual student.

In the early years of the 20th century, Organic School teachers were privileged to attend workshops taught by Johnson herself. Today, School of Organic Education teachers immerse themselves in her philosophy as described in her books and writings, and in notes from the many lectures she gave around the world. Once the basic concept is grasped, what happens in the classroom flows from the combined creativity of teacher and students.