Faith in a Seed, Hope for the Next Generation

A short-form pamphlet from New Perennials Publishing written by Matt Schlein, outdoor educator and founder of The Willowell Foundation and the Walden Project in Monkton, Vermont. Inspired by John Dewey and Henry David Thoreau, Schlein calls out the many ways the indoor classroom-model of education fails all who participate in it, particularly students, and calls for alternatives that are alive with hope, compassion, wisdom, and respect for integrity of all who engage the educational enterprise. In Schlein's words, "We need young people to feel hope, instead of the quiet desperation that pervades their daily experience. We need systems that go eyeball to eyeball with the challenges of this moment, responding with compassion and wisdom. We need to delight in this creation, to ask why, to dream, to create, and to envision a future replete with possibilities and hope."