Will Smith Starts New School [Mod Edit] New Will Smith Scientology School tracklist in BN: post all new articles here: Tracklist: Will Smith Scientology School News Articles - Enturbulation.org Activism Forums and discussion here: http://forums.whyweprotest.net/7-general-discussion/will-smith-opens-scientology-school-14380/ for moar organised HARPOONS :flowers: [/Mod Edit] Does any of this sound like it may be Scientology related? Will Smith has started his own private school in Calabasas, California for children from pre-kindergarten to grade 6 called the New Village Academy. It emphasizes learning by doing, technology and individualized instruction. According to the school’s website, which makes no mention of Smith, they will provide every child with a laptop computer, including pre-k students, and serve an all-organic low-fat sugar-free menu. It will cost $12,500 a year for grades 3-6 and $11,500 for K-2, with financial aid available for families who qualify. Smith homeschools his two younger children, Jaden, 9 and Willow, 7, and told People Magazine last year that he wanted “to design the system that revolutionizes public education.” Now Smith has paid about $890,000 to lease an existing school for three years, and classes will start this year, according to the school’s website and the May 26 edition of The National Enquirer. I have a masters degree in education and many members of my family work in the school system. While the concepts on the website for Smith’s school are well described and sound like a good approach, it’s hard to know how they’ll be executed or if the school will be any good. What’s more is that Smith has made some arguably controversial statements about education. He doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree and never went to college, which is certainly not a requirement for starting a school and he’s been wildly successful in other endeavors in life. He is getting help from qualified experts, and even held a roundtable discussion with education leaders to help come up with ideas for the school. I know I started my son on computer education at a young age, and I do agree with Smith’s general concepts. It might be a decent school. Smith told Reader’s Digest in an interview in 2006 that he could learn anything he set his mind to and that formal education was not necessary: RD: Have you ever thought about going back to college? Smith: The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school. Traditional education is based on facts and figures and passing tests — not on a comprehension of the material and its application to your life. Jada and I homeschool our children, because the date of the Boston Tea Party does not matter. RD: But there are some basics in education that need to be taught. Smith: Of course there are. Reading, writing and arithmetic, because those are the languages of our country. RD: When you say you homeschool, do you mean you actually teach them? Smith: No, we have hired teachers who teach what we feel is important. For example, Plato’s Republic — kids need to know that. Why is that not taught in first grade? RD: You think kids in elementary school should read Plato’s Republic? Smith: Yeah. You cannot be an American without reading it and Aristotle’s Politics. That is what the forefathers of this country read, and they used them to create what I believe is the finest system of government that has ever existed. RD: So, you don’t see any reason to go back to a formal education yourself? Smith: I know how to learn anything I want to learn. I absolutely know that I could learn how to fly the space shuttle because someone else knows how to fly it, and they put it in a book. Give me the book, and I do not need somebody to stand up in front of the class. RD: They put physics in a book, but I know I could never be a physicist. Smith: The first step is you have to say that you can. [From Reader’s Digest via ICYDK] The website for the school doesn’t say much about religion, except that it is tolerant of all beliefs, backgrounds, and cultural differences. Will and Jada may be closet Scientologists, but you hope that none of that will be pushed on the children in their school. It will be headed by Jacqueline Oliver, Ed.D, that former head of Gillispe private day school in La Jolla, CA. She has no ties to Scientology that I could find. Will Smith is shown with his two children, Willow and Jaden, at the Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards on 3/29/08, thanks to WENN. Thanks to the National Enquirer for alerting us to this story.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School By the way, this was at Celebitchy. I forgot to put where I saw it. Cele|bitchy Blog Archive Will Smith’s private school is accepting applications for Fall
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Actually Jada Pincket Smith IS a scientolgist (as far as I know) since years, and there are several reports that Will finally has been "handled" (I hate that word and that SciFag Inc rapes any language) and is now "one of them".... And yes, the believe you can do anything if you believe you can sounds Scilion-like. (yet, it is not neccessary so)
Re: Will Smith Starts New School It could be Scilon, but the Plato and Aristotle plans seem a bit out of step with the Co$. Hmmm
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Plato's Republic? I guess the part where the working class are supposed to unquestioningly follow the ruling class could fit into Scientology's guidelines... Aristotle likes empirical observation and questioning the nature of the universe a bit too much for it to fit, on the other hand.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Alright, let me clarify myself on some matters. I believe that Hubbard was a fraud, a conman, a thief and many other things. I don't think that his "Study Tech" is completely without merit as a supplement to actual studies. For example, checking a Dictionary and Thesaurus is excellent for developing a childs vocabulary and language skills, I did it myself a lot when I was a kid, words fascinated me and I used to read A LOT. I think that the idea of breaking down complex subjects to enable comprehension from the "bottom up" as it where is something that is not done enough in today's school system. I also think that, while the idea of expressing a simple opinion in Play Do is fucking retarded, having diagrams and clear imagery to help explain a subject is excellent. I have a serious problem with the idea that Study Tech could REPLACE anything in the world's curriculum, and I have a REALLY big problem with the fact that 4% of the school's gross income will fund the COS.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Original: While you may not have probems with the concepts of Study Tech, I have problems funding Scientology through licensing fees associated with Study Tech. Hubbard did not invent the concept of reading words and understanding what they mean. He invented the copyright for the description of learning. Edit: I have problems funding Scientology through licensing fees associated with Study Tech. Hubbard did not invent the concept of reading words and understanding what they mean. He invented the copyright for the description of learning. I was wrong in my statement. I apologize. and I agree with what you said.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School The dictionary plan should be mandatory, and yes kids should master one set of skills before moving on to the next. And what Randomness said
Re: Will Smith Starts New School It's not just that the school will be paying CST money, but also that the Study Tech starts the indoctrination process by teaching children to use scilon newspeak rather then English. You can teach how to look up words, how to break problems down into manageable pieces, how to visualize, without redefining words like 'mass' and 'ethics'. Also, other then the bleeding obvious learning techniques, remember that Hubbard not only had ZERO credentials as an educator, he was pretty much a failure at everything other then cult leading.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School SMITH ... YOU HAVE FAILED ME FOR THE LAST TIME Having said that, study tech seems to be one of like a dozen things it uses.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School if he has been `handled` that's truly sad. hes always been such a cool guy. dammit! [shakes fist] epic fail.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Sure as shit - Applied Scholastics This is as much confirmation as anyone could need to know that Smith's a scilon. I'm so damned depressed. I'm gonna miss him *sniffles* This is all the media should need too. Harpoon time?
Re: Will Smith Starts New School I'm so pissed about this. I've pretty much had my head in the sand when it came to Will be a Scn. Now I can't ignore it. DAMMIT!!! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!!!!!
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Study tech is like, common-sense ideas that could help students learn. They were not invented by Hubbard (he/the Co$ plagarized the "tech").
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Since I've never been a Scn, I may be talking out of my ass here, but just from reading here, this right here sounds alot like what y'all have talked about: Communication: An individual’s survival is based on communicating what one knows. Communication is the central mechanism of human interaction. Communication is the essential building block of prosperity. We value and demand the courage and commitment to the truth under any and all circumstances. Personal Excellence: An individual’s level of production is directly related to one’s relationship to oneself and one’s chosen group(s). Individual success cannot be achieved without the support of the group(s). The group’s success and progress is dependent on the initiative and participation of every member. One must produce to be an effective member of the group.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School The mission statement kinda scares me: We believe that an individual’s survival and prosperity are inextricably bound to the rise and fall of his or her family, social groups and humankind. As a result, we have created an innovative learning environment that emphasizes the pursuit of personal excellence as the catalyst of both group advancement and individual prosperity. New Village Academy is the Los Angeles based elementary school that embodies this philosophy and approach to education. Vision Statement New Village Academy will lead the world in identifying innovative learning styles, educational best practices and the ingredients for enduring prosperity. Our school will serve both as the laboratory for testing and implementing these ideas as well as the flagship for demonstrating their results. We will build the ultimate learning environment of limitless access and exposure to cultivate our students as citizens of the world. New Village Academy will become the new standard against which all other schools are measured. Are they planning to take over the world?!!
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Students are required to demonstrate 100% mastery of a skill before they move on. Testing is done in a separate classroom. If a student has not achieved mastery, he or she is gently re-taught until ready to move on. Mastery can be tested traditionally with pen and paper, but often we prefer to have children demonstrate their understanding by creating models.Purpose and Application of knowledge is stressed. We ask, “How would you use what you just read in your life?” We teach children how to study and how to recognize in themselves when they aren’t learning and how to get back on track. We emphasize that children look up the words they don’t know in the dictionary as opposed to looking for context clues right away. They then learn exactly what words mean as opposed to “sort of” what words mean. We teach children concepts whenever possible with the actual object – right there to see and touch. If this is not possible we use other visuals.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School he mentions lron in study tech - Study Technology - An educational model developed by L.R. Hubbard, study technology focuses on three principles. First is the use of “mass” (manipulatives and hands-on experiences) to foster understanding – children need to see and feel what they are learning about. Second is the attention to the “gradient,” which ensures sure students master one level before moving on to the next. Third is the “misunderstood word,” in which students master word definitions and are taught not to read past words they don’t know the meanings of in order to understand completely what they are reading and learning. NVA uses study technology as an umbrella methodology woven through the subjects.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Started my thread about this on clambake. Operation Clambake Message Board :: View topic - Will Smith starts his own school Looks like they found these people at Celebrity Center.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School I emailed Dawn Olsen of Glosslip with the info in this thread, and the article/school links. And all I can think now is the irony of Smith being in I, Robot and what part 2 will be like. -----> :xenu: :frustration:
Re: Will Smith Starts New School I know someone who lives less than a mile from that location. I'll see if I can't convince them to start a petition against the school in their neighborhood. Oh well I guess I'm not gonna go see Hancock afterall. I hope this gets more media and Sony finds out, especially after they made him publicly deny being a scilon.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Contact the school New Village Academy » Contact Us Tell these people what a whackjob LRH was. Tell them his "study tech" is common sense. Tell them scientology is an evil cult. DO IT!!
Re: Will Smith Starts New School They made him?! Why don't I remember that. I sent this stuff to TMZ. Wonder if they'll do anything with it. I'd send it to Perez too but I can't get there from work.<shakes fist at the webnanny>
Re: Will Smith Starts New School I think my biggest concern is that you can get kids to make models, read dictionaries and give them a structured and stable learning environment without paying 4% to a brainwashing cult. By choosing to use LRH tech they are saying that their school will put part of its funding to a "Religion" which is against their core policies.
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Since most of the staff seems to be Scns, I don't think that will work. :sad:
Re: Will Smith Starts New School Then we will have to make this known some other way. There must be some way to target the parents of the students and make them aware of the situation. Picketing in front of a school I think would be a bad idea and make us look terrible. Any ideas?