Years ago, the singer Michael Jackson released the music video "Bad," in which he played the role of a poor kid from a tough neighborhood who got a chance to attend an elite private boarding school. A lot of the sixth-graders at the SEED School of Maryland probably could relate to that.
The school opened this year on the campus of Baltimore's old Southwestern High School, and it is the fulfillment of what once must have seemed like an impossible dream for many of the kids and their parents: a tuition-free education at a first-rate boarding school with teachers dedicated to preparing them for college. When fully enrolled in grades 6 through 12, SEED will serve about 400 youngsters.
SEED (Schools for Educational Evolution and Development) is a public charter school; it receives public funds but is independent of the city school system (it's also supported by foundation grants and private donors). As a public school, SEED can't cherry-pick students, so it chose them by a statewide lottery; 300 families applied for 80 slots. The kids are mostly from public schools in Baltimore city and county, Prince George's and Howard counties and a tiny contingent from Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore.
Learning goes on 24-7. The academic day runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. - an hour longer than city schools - and classes are small at 13 students per instructor. After classes, the kids return to the dorm and change out of their uniforms, eat a snack, then engage in activities such as soccer, gardening or chess club for another hour. Then an hour of study hall is followed by dinner in the cafeteria. Down time is 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m., then it's lights out at 10. At 6:30 the next morning, they're up again. They go home Friday afternoon, returning for another week's classes on Sunday.
I watched social studies teacher Jesse Stovall teach a lesson on human development from Australopithecus, who appeared some 3.9 million years ago, to modern humans. (I was amazed that sixth-graders could even pronounce awe-stra-lo-PITH-i-cus.) Mr. Stovall, whose performance reminded me that teaching really is an art, had constructed a 4 million-year timeline on strips of paper that ran completely around the room on the walls just below the ceiling. He had assigned students to draw various human ancestors and was now collecting those works and stapling them to the line while making sure every student in the room participated in the discussion.
