A Different Education: Compost and Community, Not Literacy

http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/08/a-different-education-compost-and-community-not-literacy/242874/

an excerpt:
The school seeks to "create a resource-rich safe space for youth empowerment and sustainable community development," according to its mission. In a neighborhood notorious for violence, it's a place where students can explore their interests, learn skills like blogging, and formulate and pursue goals. But before you can plan where you're going, Turner says, it helps to understand where you are. Local history is an important part of the curriculum. "They learn that things didn't just happen this way, that certain things led up to it."