Future School’s philosophy from a community perspective

Editor’s note: This essay is the third of a four-part series written by community partners of the Future School of Fort Smith. Link here for the first essay in the series, and link here for the second essay. Jackie Flake, a native of Fort Smith, is a pastor and earned a bachelor’s degree from Paul Quinn College in Dallas, and earned a master’s of divinity from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.

Opinions, commentary and other essays posted in this space are wholly the view of the author(s). They may not represent the opinion of the owners of Talk Business & Politics.
––––––––––––––––

I recently attended the funeral of an elderly lady from our local community. She was known and loved by many different people in this area, as was evident by the diversity among those who gathered to celebrate her life.

One of the most accurate yet misleading statements about this jovial lady was printed in her obituary: “She had a master’s degree in love and friendship. And she was a community celebrity.” Accurately, she mastered love and friendship and taught these subject matters within public space for years. Truly, she had a type of fame among all who knew our beloved friend. But what’s misleading is she did not have a formal education beyond high school, therefore she had no masters degree in any type of subject matter. Neither was she “Taylor Swift” famous!

I imagine this lady who was known and respected by many, could have entered any educational institution from elementary to higher education and contributed to the learning experience of any and all students present within the classroom. And I suspect there are many like her throughout our different communities who have much to contribute to the academic success of our students. Might there be a more intentional educational philosophy that makes space and seeks to create a culture for such a person, for such an educational experience? I think so. Fort Smith’s public charter school, Future School of Fort Smith, seeks the community’s involvement to ensure such contributions and more.

While the saying attributed to an African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” has been at times a political and social football kicked around by many for multiple reasons and agendas, it is reasonable to conclude that a child’s best chance of succeeding in life is strongly influenced by a communal effort that goes beyond the immediate setting, environment or institution. This is no less reasonable within education.

While we attempt to facilitate this concept within our academic institutions, including the use of such buzzwords such as collaboration, mentoring, peer-to-peer and group learning, it seems we have yet to create academic cultures with this as its DNA.

Essential to Future School of Fort Smith, which is tuition-free and open to all Arkansas students, is the commitment to develop student curricula around the student’s interest that involves, includes and is supported by the educator, advisor, mentor, parents and a cross section of community partners. There’s a great challenge and a certain beauty of the inception of a new venture. The challenge is there is no exact template from which to build, while the beauty is to have a blank canvas from which to create. The ability to start from ground zero (with certain waivers allowed) assures a focus of what’s most important to and for the student as well as greater flexibility to direct resources built around communal collaboration, including other public education institutions, for overall student success.

I’m convinced a school that is able by design and intentional in strategy to incorporate its community resources, primarily social capital, stands a much better chance of closing the gap between those who succeed and those who have not been as successful. Minority students and those from lower social economic backgrounds often lack access to people and areas within the community that could contribute to their overall success.

Of course there are no simple answers or silver bullets. But I do think a school that’s DNA has an active cross-section partnership where all student have access to social capital within the student’s area of interest can address and overcome many concerns about students graduating on time and prepared for life beyond high school. Schools that can organize and execute around this kind of community collaboration provide a bright future for each student, the educational institution, the local community and our global community. Such a bright outlook encourages local people and businesses to stay in this area as well as attract others to come be a part of this hope-filled community.

Future School of Fort Smith invites any and all who want to be a part of a cross-section of individuals, groups, companies and organizations throughout the community seeking to assure the success of every student to roll your sleeves up and join us!