I am a person who from 9-15 years old attended a school that did not have any teachers, you were required to teach yourself every subject from books at your own pace, while sitting in cubicles all day with very little interaction with other studen...

Was this the ACE curriculum?

YES!

I went to an ACE school K-12. I've spent the last 15 years learning on my own what I should have learned as a child.

hugs

What sort of things should you have learned as child that you're learning now?

nothing school is not where life ends for a child, i have a pretty large family, and had alot of friends i made through the school and we hung out outside of the school, and also friends through church and whatnot, so there was plenty of socialness happening in my life.. just not at school, that was for learning..

I used this too! Only my parents bought the curriculum to teach us at our house, they didn't actually send us to a school.

Also "learned" using ACE for two years. Terrible curriculum.

Yeah, it had a few good things about it, but most of it was bullshit. I took it from 5th grade all the way through high school. They taught the whole the-planet-is-only-6000-years-old shit, and for every "grade" they just recycled the history that they taught. You had to memorize bible verses on every test, and you got dinged points if you got them wrong. And it makes it seem like you can get through it quickly if it's easy, but the work is usually very repetitive and time-consuming. I wanted to test out of spelling, but my parents refused to let me. The only good thing about this is they give you the answers to the tests and I used them to cheat on everything.

YES. Two trips to the scoring station! Second trip... 100%!

LOL @ 'scoring station'... our kids will never believe us THIS WAS A THING

Im so glad to see other people out there.. who experienced this same thing

Wait...they give you the answers? And they just expect you to not cheat?

i didnt get any answers

Did you ever get in trouble for drawing on the comic strips?

no i actually like seeing PUDGE and ACE grow up in the books with you

did you also use this curriculum?

Was this in Va? I too went to a private school using this same setup and system

no GA

Sorry to break it to you but you weren't in school...your mom dumped you at the library for free babysitting.

it certainly was FAR from free, this was a private school

That's really interesting - you seem to be implying that it was quite expensive, but if there was really no teacher involvement in anything you did (even grading tests as you mentioned further down), what on earth were you paying for? I know there must have been expenses like books etc. but surely not enough to warrant really high tuition fees. (I'm not doubting your honesty or anything, it just seems like a huge money grab on the school's part.)

money grab i agree, cheaper than most private schools but still expensive considering, about $10,000 a year, I guess you payed for the 'good wholesome Christian environment'

I went to one of these schools the spring of my 7th grade year in 1972. It was called Accelerated Christian Education. It was a joke in terms of learning. We had "packets" for each course. I finished the last half of my 7th grade year and all of the 8th grade packets in one semester. I had a 98% average. I did not learn diddly.

At my school one had to earn privilege levels each week - one either had an A, and AC or an ACE (the initials standing for Accelerated Christian Education). Privileges were earned based on how many packets you finished, books you read and special projects.

The instructors were just glorified baby sitters. Not one had a teaching certificate.

We had (sometimes quite long) chapel worships every day. Basically like a full church service each day.

P.E. was held three times a week by driving out to a public park where we played. Rain or shine, get out of the bus and go do something kid. No supervision. I got into several fights with no punishment. We threw a kid over an embankment once, he fell into a creek and almost drowned.

I have never been able to forgive my parents for sending me to that hellhole.

(edit for additional info on "P.E. class".)

yes we also had the A AC and ACE status, you earned them by memorizing LONG bible passages and doing community service and other things, and you held the status for a week, and got extra privileges, like longer breaks and you could listen to your walkman while you were doing your work, (but only approved cds, i would bring christian CDs in to be approved and then , put Eminem in my walkmen with my Jars of Clay CD on top, bc they would come around and check sometimes and ask you to open the CD player

1. What was the idea behind this?

2. Did you get to decorate your cube?

3. What resources did you have access to? (Books, computers, etc)

4. Were there state tests?

5. Did you go to college? Did it affect your learning ability?

  What was the idea behind this?

I really dont know, they never really spoke about their ideology accept when it came to God, but i think they thought they were giving us a sheltered environment, where learning was at the center of everything, more than social interaction, more than physical fitness and mental health Did you get to decorate your cube? To an extent, approved posters and drawings, nothing that ruined them like stickers are markers

  What resources did you have access to? (Books, computers, etc)

Only the books provided by the curriculum, im 26 now so the internet wasnt a HUGE thing then, every year each student was suppose to finished at least 60 'paces' these were the name of the books maybe about 35 pages each - at the end of each 'pace' there was a test, and when you finished you got another one in your cube the next day, 15 in each subject a year was considered a "grade" but you could do as many as you wanted, so when i went to public school, it was recorded that i 'skipped' the sixth grade, but really i just did years 5-6 in one year

  Were there state tests?

Private schools in my state are not subject to standardized testing

  Did you go to college? Did it affect your learning ability?

I just graduated with an architecture degree, with a minor in web dev i dont think im super smart or a genius or anything because of it, but sitting through college courses was very difficult, most of the time even if i paid attention i couldnt catch what was going on or i would space out, and i would just go home and read the book and get the information that way, I had some structures classes ( teaches you about stresses and concrete loads and how big a beam to use on a house in alaska with lots of snow fall) these courses did not have books, and you just had to pay attention and take notes and i found them very difficult and stressful

I just graduated with an architecture degree too! it's such a social degree, and studio culture is so big! Was it a weird transition for you to move into an education that is 100% collaboration and socialization?

No because before i got into architecture school i did two years at a party school, and modeled in New York for a year.. so I had worked through any strangeness by that point...

i really loved architecture school, and aside from staying up several days in a row all the time.. I really miss it, and the people I met

What kind of modelling?

commercial

This is really interesting. It's possible more education will shift this way given the cost savings in having kids in a more individual setting where technology does the job of the teacher.

I dont think so, my GF is a teacher and they are much more leaning towards more interaction, and different kinds of interaction with technology with each other .. anything except old fashioned sit down and read a book type learning

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I dont think it was a scam, the kids there were doing real learning, one of my classmates was on jeopardy last year, but then again maybe you're right, because the school is no longer in operation.

Oh my god, I'm glad to hear from you. I went to through this too. I now collect survivor stories from people who went through it. There are more than 20 indexed on my blog.

HOLY SHIT, your're not joking,.. i know at least 20 that im still friends with

Did this have an impact on your ability to work in a group setting later on? Such as leadership skills, etc

I think when i first transitioned into high school it was strange and i kinda just wanted to do my own thing but after the first part of the year i started making friends and joining sports teams, and i even joined future business leaders of america, I think long term it has affected me socially a bit, because i really like to hang out with people and laugh, but i also like to be left alone when im getting things done.. like study groups were always the worse for me, a big waste of time.

As a very introverted person, this sounds about a million times more enjoyable to me than my middle school / high school experience.

i used to tell my mom she robbed me of a middle school experience bc, i will never understand what kind of emotional things my kids will go through during this period in their life, and the pressures they might feel, her response is always... " trust me, you would have hated it"

Perhaps for some people, middle school / high school (especially the latter) are "some of the best years of your life," but they certainly weren't for me. I was picked on a lot, made fun of for enjoying learning / reading, and generally, just didn't fit in. It was a miserable experience. I would have gladly done my own studies in solitude instead.

im sorry to hear that, I really enjoyed my last two years of school in the public system, But maybe just bc it was something new to me.

ACE teaches that evolution is absurd, and, in one book, that the Loch Ness Monster disproves evolution.

What are your views on Creationism now?

i dont spent too much time thinking about this shit honestly, i work alot and im just concern myself with real life goals and dreams, tangible things that i can control... i have no articulate views on Creationism

What are your views on the American education system? Since you've had an alternative way of education, do you consider yourself to be better taught than other people your age?

sorry forgot to answer the last part, i dont consider myself better educated, just more of a self starter, and i seek out information instead of just waiting for someone to tell me things

I just graduated from architecture school, and some of my colleagues are going to grad school i will never, i feel like there is little, school can teach me that i cant teach myself, i went to architecture school, because i cant really explain that logic to a registration board... but i def believe that so much can be learned in books and online.. it just takes will power and focus... in the two years i spend in high school it was a cake walk, in my other school, anything less than an 85 on a test was an F, and there was so much fucking busy work i think there is no reason kids needs to be in school for 12 years to learn everything they need to prepare them work any university.

What country?

USA

What are your superpowers?

I can stay awake for 5 days straight with no stimulants , architecture school taught me that, and i'm a pretty good juggler, that's all I got

Villain, hero or antihero?

depends on how long ive been awake

I did PACE, at least I think it was PACE, it was years ago and I don't remember. But we had no teachers, we had monitors, we taught ourselves, graded our own work, and it was highly religious.....the school I attended was attached to the church I attended, so very small and everyone knew each other and attended the same church. I was moved to public school my 7th grade year. I loved every minute of not being at the private school anymore. For one thing, no more uniforms. I think it shaped me because I am a very slow reader and I didn't enjoy reading books until I was in HS and someone started introducing me to books I was interested in. The school I attended would only allow us to read approved christian material, I read about horrific deaths of christian martyrs in 4th grade. That is not really something I wanted to be reading =) I also have everyone I know now tell me I grew up in a box because I get no cultural references from when we were kids because I went to this school/church and had no TV and was only allowed to listen to certain types of music and watch certain movies and blah blah blah. Was it the same for you?

at school it was the same, minus the graphic literature, but at home I could listen to whatever music i wanted to within reason, and watch whatever I wanted to within reason of course, so i didnt miss out on any culture things, except Harry Potter my mom wouldnt let me read the books cause of the witch craft thats about it. I was 'normal' once I left the school for the day

this is glorified home schooling, and seems awful considering it probably wasn't accredited and didnt teach you things that are necessary in school, such as how to act socially.

you are right, my school didnt teach me how to 'act socially,' but i have a pretty big family, and I wasnt some hunch back in a clock tower all day and night, I did see other kids outside of school and go to sleepovers and all that kid shit, so I think I'm not too scarred in that area.

Did you ever get detention?

there was a merit and demerit system.. everyday you started off with like 50 merits, and you could loss them alll, and if you did you got detention, if you saved them, then at the end of the month, we would have a merit sale where you could buy things that parents had donated to the merit store, like water guns and playstation games

Detention was never served after school instead of getting your normal stretch breaks you would have to stay inside for the day and copy from the dictionary or the Bible.

then at the end of the month, we would have a merit sale where you could buy things that parents had donated to the merit store, like water guns and playstation games

How has this yet not been applied to regular schools? I mean, it's the perfect "If you work hard in life, you get rewards"-ideology that kids need to learn... (Said the unemployed 20 year old who browses Reddit from morning to night without applying for any jobs)

once a parent donated a playstation, brand new in the box, that price was so high, but you could roll over your merits, ... some goodie toe shoes prick won it, not me... i got carpel tunnel

you would get the demerits for things like peeping over your cubical to talk to other kids... or being a disruption to the 'learning center' , just kid stuff

witch did you chose?

The dictionary, my family is very religious i spent plenty of time in church reading and learning about the Bible.. if i had the chance to escape it i would

How do you know if you were doing something incorrectly without a teacher there to point out mistakes or areas that could use improvement?

We graded our own work with answer keys, so we would do some pages in the work book and then put up a flag on top of our cube, and the monitor would come over, there was a scoring station where you stood in public view with the answer key marking what was wrong with a red pen, and then you would go back to your cube and try to figure out what you got wrong and why, and then, when you thought you had it right , you would ask to go score again... and repeat.. until everything was right.

That sounds horribly tedious

it definitely was, and you kinda had no choice, but to eventually have the information click in your head, because there was no one there to help you, the 'monitors' were not qualified teachers at all, i think they may have had degrees in religious studies, they served mostly as chaperons to our learning

Did the school have their own reasons for doing this? Why did your parents send you to this school? Do you feel it has made you different from the average person who attended a 'normal' school?

HONESTLY, i think its a very cheap way to run a private school under the guise of some new way of learning, bc they didnt have to pay real teachers,..

My parents are both in the miliary and we had to move from Maryland to the south in a hurry, and i was already enrolled in private school ( i was getting picked on alot in public school)... so my mom just enrolled me in the closest private school to our new house, and thats where i stayed.. my parents thought i was good cause no one picked on me there and i was learning alot, i dont think they thought too much about the long term effects that it might have.. just they never wanted me to go back to public school, the reason i went back was because my dad died, and my mom worked far away, and there was no one to take me to school anymore ( they didnt have a bus) ... i dont think im that different than others .... i like to teach myself things.. ANYTHING languages, instruments, coding... knitting.. im kinda obsessive.. but thats about it...

Proof?

I dont know how I could show any proof the school is no longer open, and all pictures in any, are in America with my mother, i'm currently in China

How was the transition from self taught to being taught?

i liked some aspects, like in regular school there were alot of varied tasks, like make a video, or do an experiment, or something like that instead of always just in a book, but other aspects i found very boring, like taking almost a month to get through and analyze Lord of the Flies, .. .. because the class is reading on the same pace, a couple chapters at a time

Were you still subjected to the state's standard tests?

Since you didn't have classmates to compare your performance against how did you measure your proficiency?

Did you have any friends at all throughout your schooling? How did you make/meet them?

What do you do now?

Were you still subjected to the state's standard tests? No standardized tests Since you didn't have classmates to compare your performance against how did you measure your proficiency? At the end of every 'pace' there was a test, anything less than an 85 was an F and you'de have to complete the book again

Did you have any friends at all throughout your schooling? How did you make/meet them? I only had friends from that school we would talk during lunch and what not, ...but none really outside of school untill i got into public school

What do you do now? I work as an architect and freelance graphic designer in Shanghai

How was the grading?

FWIW I agree with the self-taught methodology, but I'm left wondering how they considered you "learned" in a particular subject.

we had to complete a minimum sixty books a year, (30-35 pages each) 15 in every subject so in a school year we would take a minimum of 60 tests,(the tests were graded by the monitors with an answer key A=100-95 B=94-90 C-89-85 anything less than a 84 is an F and you had to do the book over again..

I don't mean to sound mean, but how did you get an 85+ in grammar/English?

the same way I learned tons of facts about Harriet Tubman and William Henry Harrison, and Geometry, and a shit ton of other things you learn in school and brain dump after the test.

Yes i know my grammar is pretty terrible, have heard from high school and uni teachers alike,.. im lucky to have a girlfriend who has an English Masters for when i need to sound smart :)

Coming from a seemingly rigid, religious background how does your mother feel about you being a lesbian?

Also this sounds like paid babysitting for you to "home school" yourself. Weird.

lol good eye there, umm i was forced out of the closet about 3-4 years ago, and it didnt go well, at all.. but its taken some time.. my moms ok with it now, as ok and shes gonna get, .. not mean or rude, and doesn't ignore it. And shes nice to my GF so we are making strides forward

With all due respect did you turn out okay?

lol im fine, .. I graduated college, Im working as an architect project manager in Shanghai, I am in a relationship, I didnt kill anyone, and I love my family.. PS. i have 5 brothers and sisters im the only one who went thru this program, and i would argue that im probably the most well adjusted, ..BUT I dont think that has anything to do with our educations

Good stuff, my question was poorly worded, I was just curious because I could see this sort of situation being very beneficial to the success of some people, for example myself. When it comes to study I prefer independent work and just the concept of "teaching yourself" just sounds so attractive to me, but at the same time the reason I asked the question was because I wasn't sure if it had any impact on any social aspects of your life, but from the seems of it you seem quite alright!

I like my alone time like anyone else, and I spend many nights awake, reading and learning things on my own, but I think maybe thats just my personality, at this point its hard to tell nature or nurture, but as far as friends and personal relationships go, I've always been kinda quirky, but never had a problem making friends (once I got past 12 or so).. when i was younger was when I had it the toughest, thats the main reason my parents ever decided to send me to private school in the first place

Were there any adults there for discipline, or could you do what you want?

LOTS of discipline and very strict, it was a private Christian school.

Do you feel as if you would of learned more in an educational system like that in the united states?

I was in the US, I attended kindergarten in Germany, first thru third grade in tradition public school, and junior and senior year in public school. I dont think I learned more at all, Yes i learned some things, and math is always a bit easier if you can have someone to help to explain some things to you, but overall in my junior and senior year, I felt like alot of time is spent in school doing busy work, dumb things to pass the time, bc they have to keep you there till 3:30

How large was this facility? How many students and how many facility members were there? Do you know if it has grown since then or shrunk? Was it a government institution or private?

The facility when i was there ( 1995-2002 ) it maxxed out at about 60-70 students..with about 5-7 staff, But in the coming years the numbers began to drop, I had to leave because of family death, but i think it would have been good for me to leave anyways, many of the students that graduated from there, were having a hard time getting into colleges because public universities would not accept the diploma and the students were having to take their GEDs, and then the school started offereing to PAY for graduates GEDs, it started becoming really crazy, because the principle was never really direct when asked about the accreditation of the program, he started getting really shady saying that he was using the GED as the schools 'graduation' test that is standard in american high schools now.. either way to alleviate this problem over time, they stopped allowing high school students and only had the school go up to 8th grade, but i guess maybe that wasnt enough money coming in and, they soon closed their doors, not sure exactly when maybe 4-5 years ago.