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Paul Harvey - Neskowin Valley School
00:03:47
Paul Harvey - Neskowin Valley School
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Now the rest of the story. Am I pronouncing it correctly? The Nescoan Valley of western Oregon. Educator George Thompson has created something very special in that valley. George says his Nescoan Valley school is not all that original. He based it on a British integrated day system. But the parents of George's pupils, although they appreciate his modesty, the parents called George Thompson one of a kind. And the subsequent success of his graduates suggests that he is one of a kind. And this despite the fact that in the Nescoan Valley School, the students use practically no textbooks at all. Reduced to a phrase, the Nescoan system is hands on education. The pupils participate, they experience, they learn at a remarkable rate. There's a well stocked library in the school. The students are encouraged to use it in the pursuit of their own interests. And yet, with the exceptions of math and 7th and 8th grade history, no textbooks are used at Nesco and Valley School. George Thompson founded this school 15 years ago on a secluded dairy farm, the nearest town 15 miles away. There was nothing to indicate that such a private institution was needed in the area. But George and his wife Margaret, operating on instinct, opened classroom doors to 75 pupils kindergarten through eighth grade. And the results have been making a proud noise throughout the American educational community ever since. No textbooks. Imagine the outdoors serves as the school's science lab. Therefore, pupils study plants where they really grow and animals where they really live. And why study law enforcement and firefighting from a book when policemen and firemen, fathers of the students themselves, can bring colleagues and equipment and official vehicles right to the school grounds? From one point of view, the Nescoan system seems a preponderance of field trips. And yet what George Thompson's methods have produced is inarguable. Graduates who routinely become honor roll students and class presidents of local high schools, outstanding members of prestigious university communities. The school is supported through fundraising efforts by parents and staff members and even students themselves. A recent and substantial three year grant has also been useful. But for the time being at least, this extraordinary textbook less Nesco and Valley School is thriving. What's difficult to imagine is how George Thompson's life would have turned out had he chosen to employ any other educational system. For you see, in Georgia, school students must take an active part in the subjects they study. They must depend first upon their hands and their minds. From the start, George's educational theories opposed the vicariousness of reading. So he founded his school upon this participation principle and he opened its doors a full year before losing his own sight to diabetic hemorrhage Headmaster George Thompson came so near to establishing an academic institution in which he could not possibly have taught. And yet his now proved printed, wordless system of teaching, however unwittingly, was tailor made to his own medical future. For now, 15 years later, George Thompson's school is thriving, though George, for 14 of those years, has been totally blind. And now you know the rest of the story.