Agile Learning Centers

Wow this is exciting. Interested to see how things go!

@bear @tomis @tonyg

There’s a chemistry saying “do as you oughta pour your acid in your water.” In addition to Chem class, I once heard someone use it as a metaphor in talking about sociology. The general point was about placing a bad person in a good society vs putting a good person in a bad society. Something about the momentum of the society’s morals affecting the person dropped into it. I don’t know how well the theory holds up in real life but I like to think it has truth to it. If your existing culture is very healthy AND vigilant then it does not tolerate bad apples very well. The new edition will be converted or expelled. Similarly, if the community culture is toxic then it will either corrupt others. I’m sure there’s much to say about HOW good or bad the community and individual is. Also how involved the citizens are in maintaining the health of their community. I say all this to say that it seems like the community is having a very bad reaction with the new students. I would think after you communicate very sternly and clearly about what the norms are and what’s acceptable that either you convert them or there’s a realization that they simply aren’t a good fit.

What a tough spot! It seems your big priorities should be creating a system/culture/organization/structure that is infused with your vision and training/grooming your facilitators. In a sense, you would be putting things in place so that your will for explora is executed in your absence. Automate it, which I guess is something like a handbook or operating procedures. Of course this is much harder than it seems. Writing out a bunch of if-thens is time consuming and probably misses the point in regards to being agile. I wonder if your intentions for things can be described enough to allow you to trust someone to delegate to but flexible enough to allow that person to enjoy autonomy. Hope you can find a balance between attracting ppl to the project and operating the project.

Becka, your son is beautiful. Thank you for sharing you experiences. I could relate to so much of it. My son struggles with social stuff, and integrating into Mosaic was a process that ultimately required me to be there to support him and the other facilitators. Now he doesn’t need my support as much, but I love it too much to leave! Learning to control his big feelings and meltdowns has been key, and we are seeing a more peacefully engaged boy emerge. Anyway, keep up the good ❤️ work!