What is it? Is it a school?
Sure. It is a collective of teachers and learners who offer classes to each other and the public.
Where are classes taught?
Classes can be taught anywhere - we don't not have its own location(yet), so teachers and students are encouraged to get creative with their class settings. Some folks have met regularly at friendly establishments/community spaces like Lorem Ipsum Books in Inman Square, the Egleston Community Orchard in Jamaica Plain, Sprout in Somerville, and the library of Community Change downtown; others have met in private homes, empty classrooms of institutions, cafes, and public parks. Classes have also had purposefully shifting locations, such as a class that hiked with The Hobbit, or a class on psychogeography.
What kinds of classes are offered?
Probably the best way to answer this question is by browsing through past course catalogues. They can be found at the bottom of this page.
But, very quickly:
philosophy, zombies, the art of traveling/ psychogeography, making fermented foods, magic the gathering, building a dream machine, history of anarchism, the arab spring, analyzing material systems, living without employment, biomimicry blitz, cyberpunk, queer theory
What does Anarchic mean? Are you all Anarchists?
Anarchic refers to the non-hierarchical self organization of the Free School. The word is meant to be descriptive, rather than exclusive. We are against the “-archy” of institutions of the educational-corporate complex. Some members of the GBFS are self-described Anarchists, however many are not. Where most of our members would claim to be politically radical, it is not a necessity for involvement within the college.
How much does it cost?
The cost of each class is solely determined by the teacher, and most often with the agreement of students. Some teachers prefer a straightforward, class-by-class payment. Others would like it all up-front. Others may be more interested in whatever you have to offer as a donation, barter or trade. At least one person has used reverse bribery - students paid $200 up-front and then received $20 back for each class they attended over a 10-week period. Leftover money from students who didn’t come was then spent on snacks for the whole group. And many classes have been taught without asking for any money at all. The cost of each class is included in the course descriptions, usually at the bottom.
How do I sign up for a class?
On the course listings page, and on the course description page for the course in which you are interested in, there should be an email contact and maybe a phone number to contact that teacher and express your interest. You can also list your name at the bottom of the page, with your contact information. You can also contact one of the “bottom-liners”, whose emails are found throughout the website, and we will take care of you.
What if I want to join or drop a class after the Semester has started?
It is as simple as emailing the teacher or showing up and asking how you can start taking the course! It is up to you and the teacher to make arrangements. Usually it is totally gravy.
Do I have to show up to class, man, like what if the rev happens?
Each teacher decides how they like to handle attendance however it is the opinion of many of us at GBFS that good attendance leads to good community and meaningful education. It is also our opinion that attendance is a good feedback loop for teachers. If no one is showing up to your Godzilla vs Paulie Cicero class then perhaps people are just not interested debating giant reptiles against mob bosses in cinema and you may have to rethink your subject matter.
So, is it a free skool? That sounds a lot like a free skool.
Boston has a freeskool at http://occupyboston.wikispaces.com/FSU. We take some aspects of the Free Skools and Free Schools along with other great educational philosophers such as Ferrer i Gaurdia, Louis Michelle, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. It depends on whom you ask to define “free skool”.
Can I teach a class?
Yes! What do you want to teach? Do you have an idea of how you would like to go about teaching it - how long the class will be, how regularly it will meet, where it will meet, what topics will be covered and activities pursued? Do you have reading material that folks could somehow access before/outside of class time? How much will it cost? Do you already have access to a space, or will you have to find a space for your class? Do you want your class to be in one consistent space?
You need to make sure your class is important to you, has depth, and you need to consider if others will want to take your class. If you don’t think anyone else would want to take your class, that’s cool, so you may want to rethink it, or you may want to think about pursuing a “Question” of independent study.
It is also imporant for our teachers to be okay with the possibility of having one student in your class. Some of the best learning experiences at GBFS have happened in very small classes, 2-3 people including students and teachers. You need to think about your own standards and expectations for how your class should look and operate. As a teacher at the Free School, you will almost definitely be forced to rethink your conception of what a class looks like.
All of these are basic questions to consider when planning a class through us. We want anyone with the motivation to have the opportunity to create their own class. The only limitation would be if it was somehow discriminatory or otherwise harmful to others.
We invite you to contact us with any questions about how to set it up, what difficulties you can expect to face, what we have done to promote the courses, and how our finances work.
Can you get credits towards other colleges?
Lets convince your college administration to make this happen because we are all for it. Plenty of Deans and Chancellors of major universities have been caught with fake credentials on their resumes, degrees and certifications they never completed, or ones from non-existent centers of learning. We may not offer accredited degrees, certificates, or officially transfer-able credits, but we do exist, and we will never bullshit you about what we can offer. Also, you may be surprised at what you can convince your professors to accept.
What type of certification does this college have, if any?
We certify the validity and quality of each other’s classes by our attendance of those classes during the term. When students finish classes with a feeling of educational satisfaction, when they feel like their brains and souls have been nourished, and when they feel like their knowledge and ability levels have grown, that is the certification we offer. Also, we are not certified, nor do we offer certifications.
Why do some courses cost more money than others?
We encourage our teachers to ask for payment that they think that their time is worth. Some teachers hold highly specialized knowledge in the field that they teach at GBFS and feel that their time and resources is worth a nominal fee. No one at GBFS is denied entrance to and attendance of a class for lack of available funds. If you do not have the funds to pay for a certain class we encourage students and teachers to make alternative arrangements.
Is any student work online? Is there any shared outlet for student work, that the general public can then access?
We’re working on it. We want our website to be more representative of what is currently going on at the college at any present time, and of what has been achieved. The hard part of not having a campus is that we have lots of different classes going on at different places. We would like to include on our website: written descriptions and outlines of past and future classes, photos of classes, video of class meetings and teachers presenting on their classes TED style, video of teachers making a presentation without any apparent audience TED style, readings and articles that have been or are being used in classes, or that pertain to our critical view of established higher-education and what we’re trying to do about it.
You say “non-hierarchical” and “horizontal” - so what’s the deal with having site administrators? Who’s organizing the website and other logistical stuff, and how can I get in on that?
Yes you can get in on that. Please email us and get in on that because we could use the help. There are a few teachers/students who “bottomline” The Greater Boston Free School. All of the people involved either at the core or on the periphery have well-developed, pre-existing lives alongside their involvement with the college. So, to make sure things get done such as outreach, teacher and student solicitation and support, answering emails, making everyone feel together and part of a unified whole, a smaller number of people actively sign up and work horizontally with full transparency and openness to the rest of the collective. These people support and push each other to keep the college organized, well-managed, credible, responsible, and to maintain a solid base so everyone else who is out there in the omnipresent cloud that is GBFS can keep on teaching, learning, and creating a wonderfully informed and experienced social revolution.
Sure. It is a collective of teachers and learners who offer classes to each other and the public.
Where are classes taught?
Classes can be taught anywhere - we don't not have its own location(yet), so teachers and students are encouraged to get creative with their class settings. Some folks have met regularly at friendly establishments/community spaces like Lorem Ipsum Books in Inman Square, the Egleston Community Orchard in Jamaica Plain, Sprout in Somerville, and the library of Community Change downtown; others have met in private homes, empty classrooms of institutions, cafes, and public parks. Classes have also had purposefully shifting locations, such as a class that hiked with The Hobbit, or a class on psychogeography.
What kinds of classes are offered?
Probably the best way to answer this question is by browsing through past course catalogues. They can be found at the bottom of this page.
But, very quickly:
philosophy, zombies, the art of traveling/ psychogeography, making fermented foods, magic the gathering, building a dream machine, history of anarchism, the arab spring, analyzing material systems, living without employment, biomimicry blitz, cyberpunk, queer theory
What does Anarchic mean? Are you all Anarchists?
Anarchic refers to the non-hierarchical self organization of the Free School. The word is meant to be descriptive, rather than exclusive. We are against the “-archy” of institutions of the educational-corporate complex. Some members of the GBFS are self-described Anarchists, however many are not. Where most of our members would claim to be politically radical, it is not a necessity for involvement within the college.
How much does it cost?
The cost of each class is solely determined by the teacher, and most often with the agreement of students. Some teachers prefer a straightforward, class-by-class payment. Others would like it all up-front. Others may be more interested in whatever you have to offer as a donation, barter or trade. At least one person has used reverse bribery - students paid $200 up-front and then received $20 back for each class they attended over a 10-week period. Leftover money from students who didn’t come was then spent on snacks for the whole group. And many classes have been taught without asking for any money at all. The cost of each class is included in the course descriptions, usually at the bottom.
How do I sign up for a class?
On the course listings page, and on the course description page for the course in which you are interested in, there should be an email contact and maybe a phone number to contact that teacher and express your interest. You can also list your name at the bottom of the page, with your contact information. You can also contact one of the “bottom-liners”, whose emails are found throughout the website, and we will take care of you.
What if I want to join or drop a class after the Semester has started?
It is as simple as emailing the teacher or showing up and asking how you can start taking the course! It is up to you and the teacher to make arrangements. Usually it is totally gravy.
Do I have to show up to class, man, like what if the rev happens?
Each teacher decides how they like to handle attendance however it is the opinion of many of us at GBFS that good attendance leads to good community and meaningful education. It is also our opinion that attendance is a good feedback loop for teachers. If no one is showing up to your Godzilla vs Paulie Cicero class then perhaps people are just not interested debating giant reptiles against mob bosses in cinema and you may have to rethink your subject matter.
So, is it a free skool? That sounds a lot like a free skool.
Boston has a freeskool at http://occupyboston.wikispaces.com/FSU. We take some aspects of the Free Skools and Free Schools along with other great educational philosophers such as Ferrer i Gaurdia, Louis Michelle, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. It depends on whom you ask to define “free skool”.
Can I teach a class?
Yes! What do you want to teach? Do you have an idea of how you would like to go about teaching it - how long the class will be, how regularly it will meet, where it will meet, what topics will be covered and activities pursued? Do you have reading material that folks could somehow access before/outside of class time? How much will it cost? Do you already have access to a space, or will you have to find a space for your class? Do you want your class to be in one consistent space?
You need to make sure your class is important to you, has depth, and you need to consider if others will want to take your class. If you don’t think anyone else would want to take your class, that’s cool, so you may want to rethink it, or you may want to think about pursuing a “Question” of independent study.
It is also imporant for our teachers to be okay with the possibility of having one student in your class. Some of the best learning experiences at GBFS have happened in very small classes, 2-3 people including students and teachers. You need to think about your own standards and expectations for how your class should look and operate. As a teacher at the Free School, you will almost definitely be forced to rethink your conception of what a class looks like.
All of these are basic questions to consider when planning a class through us. We want anyone with the motivation to have the opportunity to create their own class. The only limitation would be if it was somehow discriminatory or otherwise harmful to others.
We invite you to contact us with any questions about how to set it up, what difficulties you can expect to face, what we have done to promote the courses, and how our finances work.
Can you get credits towards other colleges?
Lets convince your college administration to make this happen because we are all for it. Plenty of Deans and Chancellors of major universities have been caught with fake credentials on their resumes, degrees and certifications they never completed, or ones from non-existent centers of learning. We may not offer accredited degrees, certificates, or officially transfer-able credits, but we do exist, and we will never bullshit you about what we can offer. Also, you may be surprised at what you can convince your professors to accept.
What type of certification does this college have, if any?
We certify the validity and quality of each other’s classes by our attendance of those classes during the term. When students finish classes with a feeling of educational satisfaction, when they feel like their brains and souls have been nourished, and when they feel like their knowledge and ability levels have grown, that is the certification we offer. Also, we are not certified, nor do we offer certifications.
Why do some courses cost more money than others?
We encourage our teachers to ask for payment that they think that their time is worth. Some teachers hold highly specialized knowledge in the field that they teach at GBFS and feel that their time and resources is worth a nominal fee. No one at GBFS is denied entrance to and attendance of a class for lack of available funds. If you do not have the funds to pay for a certain class we encourage students and teachers to make alternative arrangements.
Is any student work online? Is there any shared outlet for student work, that the general public can then access?
We’re working on it. We want our website to be more representative of what is currently going on at the college at any present time, and of what has been achieved. The hard part of not having a campus is that we have lots of different classes going on at different places. We would like to include on our website: written descriptions and outlines of past and future classes, photos of classes, video of class meetings and teachers presenting on their classes TED style, video of teachers making a presentation without any apparent audience TED style, readings and articles that have been or are being used in classes, or that pertain to our critical view of established higher-education and what we’re trying to do about it.
You say “non-hierarchical” and “horizontal” - so what’s the deal with having site administrators? Who’s organizing the website and other logistical stuff, and how can I get in on that?
Yes you can get in on that. Please email us and get in on that because we could use the help. There are a few teachers/students who “bottomline” The Greater Boston Free School. All of the people involved either at the core or on the periphery have well-developed, pre-existing lives alongside their involvement with the college. So, to make sure things get done such as outreach, teacher and student solicitation and support, answering emails, making everyone feel together and part of a unified whole, a smaller number of people actively sign up and work horizontally with full transparency and openness to the rest of the collective. These people support and push each other to keep the college organized, well-managed, credible, responsible, and to maintain a solid base so everyone else who is out there in the omnipresent cloud that is GBFS can keep on teaching, learning, and creating a wonderfully informed and experienced social revolution.