One of the most significant elements of this method is that children complete the curriculum "necessary" by the state, by themselves, at an early age. Some other major characteristics are:
* The distinction between "teacher" and "students" is softened
* There is no division into age groups
* There is no distinction between learning and the development of creative abilities
* The phrase "you're wrong" is not part of the vocabulary
* The divergence between school and real life is minimized
Criticisms
While a lot of things about this school are to be admired, it has some weaknesses. When this video was shown to some classes at a traditional school in Madrid very few of the students liked it. Their main complaints:
* no free space or free time to be by yourself,
* there's no way to know if what you are learning is "correct" or not,
* the school is totally "unreal" and doesn't prepare you for the "real world," and
* the kids are "too happy" - something just isn't right.
* the students all follow the vision of one man,
* the love of Homeland borders on the obsessive and
* the individual is submitted to the collective.
(Note: the Virtue School will not emphasize any Nationality or Ethnic Identity - though it is important to seek one's ancestral kin or "roots," this can be sought within a "Global" perspective of relationships -- without having One identity dominating all of the others).
Another characteristic which can be seen as a pitfall of Tekos - and other "free" schools such as Sudbury and Summerhill - is that they all prepare the students to fit into "the System" as it is. The vision of The Virtue School is to guide students to connect with their nous in order to create something more real, truthful, alive and evolving. They can also take part in designing, co-constructing and realizing their environment and community. Thus, they are, in essence, creating a new system, ideally, in harmony with nature. It can only be expected that some of the students will go on to build other like-minded schools and, perhaps, self-sufficient communities all over the world.
Why is this important?
As Bill Mollison (the founder of Permaculture) once said, "If you have a dysfunctional system, don't try to change it. Rather, determine what that system was supposed to deliver and design a better system to help deliver that purpose or service. If you have done the thing correctly, then people will come to you. The old institution will wither and die."
Thus, that is the "goal" of The Virtue School. As such, there will be no dogmatic protocols which dominate the school. The main objective is to combine self-discovery with community and society building, while working together in a "new" education project which aims to conserve ancient knowledge and much-needed skills, while reconnecting with nature. And to be happy (eudaimonic).