$40,000 to work and get unplugged for a semester

[Ernie]

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/t ... _permalink

Vermont school combines academics with farm chores
At the Mountain School in Vershire, Vermont, families pay $40,000 for high school juniors to spend a semester doing farmwork and household chores while living with limited technology. Students wash dishes, clean classrooms, prepare vegetables, harvest crops, herd sheep, care for animals, and chop wood. Faculty members also take part. The school says these tasks teach responsibility, prepare students for adulthood, and help them appreciate the unseen work that supports every community. Students typically perform eight hours of farm work each week and spend one full day planting or harvesting. They also surrender their phones for the semester. The dormitories have no internet, laptop use is mostly limited to schoolwork, and Wi-Fi is turned off nightly in the main buildings. Director Alex Myers said the technology limits encourage students to consider, “Who am I when I don’t have a screen?” By semester’s end, some students say they do not want their phones back.

[Grace]

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/t ... _permalink

Vermont school combines academics with farm chores
At the Mountain School in Vershire, Vermont, families pay $40,000 for high school juniors to spend a semester doing farmwork and household chores while living with limited technology. Students wash dishes, clean classrooms, prepare vegetables, harvest crops, herd sheep, care for animals, and chop wood. Faculty members also take part. The school says these tasks teach responsibility, prepare students for adulthood, and help them appreciate the unseen work that supports every community. Students typically perform eight hours of farm work each week and spend one full day planting or harvesting. They also surrender their phones for the semester. The dormitories have no internet, laptop use is mostly limited to schoolwork, and Wi-Fi is turned off nightly in the main buildings. Director Alex Myers said the technology limits encourage students to consider, “Who am I when I don’t have a screen?” By semester’s end, some students say they do not want their phones back.

Sounds like a great idea. But paying $40,000 !!! I wonder if there aren't local farmers they could work for. I had a friend tell me that they had a 15-year-old boy who really needed something to do over the summer besides sit in the house. She drove around to the local farmers and asked if he could work as a hired man. One older farmer said he could use the young boy on the farm. It was a valuable experience for the youngster.

[JohnH]

I can offer those exact services for half price. There will be dishes to wash, a school to sweep, vegetables to be shopped, produce to be harvested, a herding dog to exercise with and train, animals to care of, and wood to chop.