16 Comments
May 18, 2023Liked by Adam B. Coleman

There have been a few similar super-strict schools in the US (specifically in black communities) in the past. I don’t know what happened to them, but at the time, their success rates were absolutely phenomenal. Truly something to brag about.

It’s hard not to believe that the current low/no standards movement in public education isn’t some sort of plot to further mediocrity. The kids in these schools you are describing in your post, despite many very real “handicaps” (poverty, broken families, historically marginalized communities, etc.) were able to perform at the highest levels, when PUSHED to do so. Low expectations, in the vast majority of cases, yield low outcomes.

Expand full comment
May 18, 2023Liked by Adam B. Coleman

This was very interesting. I have never heard of this school. Unless we have a "return to order," we will lose our children to the chaos upon which the demonic world order thrives. The smiling faces of the children in this picture show what can happen when adults are really in charge. Let's start with a universal search for Truth -- not the narcissistic "what is your truth?" nonsense that has taken over most US schools.

Expand full comment

Reminds me of a story I read about a handful of orphans who got 10x by eating veggies and praying a lot. Perhaps that's happening here too.

Seriously... with test scores 4x above average this school and its student body should be immediately platformed in the US, if only to create legitimate discontent with students here and their taxpaying parents. Might also be an effective means to deconstruct the deconstructors and current "experts".

Big kudos again @Adam 🔥🔥🔥

Expand full comment
May 18, 2023Liked by Adam B. Coleman

We need all the talented, trained, hard working people we can get, regardless of any personal peculiarities. We therefore need to fix our schools quickly.

What consequences for misbehavior does Mikaela inflict, short of suspension or expulsion? Are those consequences possible in the USA?

In the USA misbehavior gets a child sent to the office. This is more an escape than anything else.

Expand full comment

I love this story and really appreciate you guys sharing this school w/ readers.

I have had an interest in education for decades. Personally when I did my best in school it was when I was enrolled in Gifted & Talented classes as well as AP classes. I think it was because they were challenging, which meant we had to be creative. We were also treated better so we had enthusiasm for the work. The rest of school felt, as Dead Prez might say, like a "12 step brainwash camp."

It appears that the school you visited cares more about teaching kids than propragandizing them like here. Keep sharing these positive stories so they serve as motivation for meaningful change.

Expand full comment
May 18, 2023Liked by Adam B. Coleman

She seems an anachronism, Mr. Coleman, a throwback to the standards of an earlier era.

In 1970's San Francisco, I attended both a large public school and a parochial college-prep academy. The difference was striking, with the prep school holding each of us to standards similar to those of the Michaela school. The public school instructors were caring, to be sure, but could not possibly enforce the behavioral standards required to give each student the opportunity to pursue learning without peer group disruption and interference.

You mention maintaining a pretense to avoid peer shaming. I think that you've made a critically important point with that reminiscence. Peer pressure has been used and abused in scholastic settings, usually to no good purpose aside from attempting to create a biddable cohort well-suited to military service.

Regimentation was universal at the prep academy, weirdly split in the public school. Group penalties and punishments were ladled out in the public school physical education department, turning students against one another, but the classroom standards were nearly feral.

Anyway, I'll spare you further anecdotes and offer my thanks for yet another engaging and enjoyable essay.

Expand full comment
founding
May 18, 2023Liked by Adam B. Coleman

The teachers’ unions would never support such excellence, their job appears to be to make sure that teachers do as little work as possible and make it impossible to fire incompetent teachers.

Expand full comment

Fantastic read. I hadn’t heard of this school. I kept wondering how they are achieving this. (I couldn’t read the story at the The Telegraph.) If I had to bet it was the Classical Education (Well Trained Mind) model. I used that in my homeschool.

Expand full comment
May 19, 2023Liked by Adam B. Coleman

As a former teacher in the US, I wept when I read this article. This is what American schools could and should be! Why do our politicians insist on schools that fail our children's most basic need to learn?!

Expand full comment

Thank you for this. This is the most important thing you have written here, IMO.

Expand full comment
May 18, 2023Liked by Adam B. Coleman

Have been a fan of @Miss_Snuffy for a few years. We can all learn from her

Expand full comment
May 18, 2023Liked by Adam B. Coleman

Wow! What a school... teachers really care about students! I have always said that school is not the place for socializing, it is for learning! Kudos to the Headmistress!

They need to use her as a best practice!

Expand full comment

I remember reading about the school and the leadership. Amazing! May this model be duplicated and spread everywhere.

Expand full comment

I agree that “the media will often frame rational people as being radical, and then use this framing to sell fear to the public” but I can’t think of one person I know who buys into this. Where are all the people who do buy it?

Expand full comment