BUILDING FOR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY - Kennedy Bibliothek

open warehouse space into highly personal and identifiable areas. Even
though Jack Dollard, the first architect, is somewhat disappointed with the
use made of flexible shelves and partitions, one gets the impression that
the space has indeed been moulded by teachers, parents and children to suit
their needs.
137. The educational concept as innovative as the architectural and planning
concept, seems to have best survived the eight years since its inception.
It is geared to the special needs of the community but also reflects the
most progressive stance of the late 60's. In the 1968 working paper the
educational system is described as being visible and accessible and providing
an opportunity for the full or partial voluntary involvement of
everyone. It
"creates a teaching-learning plan in an atmosphere that will produce
a positive change in children's attitudes toward themselves and toward
learning;
places a strong emphasis on reading, writing and mathematics;
ranks the following skills high in priority:
observation
comparison
classification and categorisation
perception of problems
intuition and "hunching"
hypothesis building and testing
extrapolation
interpretation
appreciation
assists children to become independent, responsible, thinking adults;
holds that the important thing is not only how much a child knows but
how well he utilises what he knows;
holds that children tend to learn best those things they feel to be
relevant to their own lives and have, in some measure, chosen to learn;
holds that it is possible for children to discover the intrinsic satisfaction
that comes from successful learning;
teaches the child how to learn - not how to be taught - the creation
of the self-directed learner."(1)
1) "The Everywhere School", a working paper, SAND Corporation, 1968,
pages 10-11.
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