Blue Man Group School Scrutinized As Parents Say Kids Can't Read

[Dave_Berry]

"The $32,000 per-year progressive school founded by the Blue Man Group has come under scrutiny by parents, who claim their kids are barely learning to read, the New York Post reports.

The Blue School, a private school located in New York City's Financial District, has no books and no tests and is facing an exodus of students and teachers.

One mother complained to the Post that the school is 'unstructured.' She is pulling her son at the end of the school year, as are the parents of four of her son’s first-grade classmates. Parents also claim that their children are not prepared to take tests and are bored with nothing to do in school.

'A majority of my Upper East Side clients, if they took a look down there, their heads would explode,' education adviser Terri Decker of Smart City Kids told the Post. 'Literally, their brains would be on the pavement.' " ...

Blue Man Group School Scrutinized As Parents Say Kids Can't Read

[toledo]

They can't read, but can they talk?

[soccerguy315]

looks like Terri Decker is another person that doesn't know what "literally" means.

[MommaJ]

From the article:"According to the Post, school officials say students decide their own curriculum and have no predetermined arrival time."

So let me get this straight, parents are surprised that 6 year olds who saunter in whenever they feel like it and and do whatever they want all day may not have nailed down first grade academics? Of course what's truly shocking here is that a school that describes itself this way could have received a state charter.

[absweetmarie]

Wait, what? There's a school started by the Blue Man Group and people send actual kids there? And this is not an Onion story? Wow.

[warbrain]

The word literally has multiple meanings, one of the comments suggests this article is not accurate at all, which agrees with the fact that it was originally from New York Post, and if you read the article, the founding of the school seems reasonable, I'm not sure why it's not.

[busdriver11]

Well who cares about that reading and writing anyways? I'll bet they can catch a boatload of marshmallows in their mouth with deadly accuracy.

Hey, what more could you expect from a 32K/year progressive school with no books or tests?

Okay, this has got to be from the Onion!

[toledo]

I'll bet they can catch a boatload of marshmallows in their mouth with deadly accuracy.

Do you mean that literally?

[Pizzagirl]

Hey, don't underestimate the ability to catch marshmallows in your mouth!

Seriously, a school funded by the Blue Man Group??

[saintfan]

It says founded not funded . . . the 32k tuition is funding it

[oldfort]

The article said students determined their own curriculum. If my kids were to determine their own curriculum when they were 5-7, they would play house, draw, watch TV and had a lot of snack time.

This was started by some theater parents, probably a lot of struggling actors/actresses. Interesting that they quickly determined 32k was the magic number for the tuition. I guess it's an easier way to make money than being in the theateter.

[KatMT]

I think the Blue Men are doing fine financially. ;-) I doubt they founded a school because it was an easier endeavor than a theatre career. It sounds like it started more as a small cooperative of families that wanted a school that they felt celebrated and encouraged creativity and has developed into the school. Whether or not it has been educationally successful for all of the families, who knows?

Watching the video it looks like there is some pretty expensive equipment at the school. Many private elementary schools in NYC cost in the $30,000 range.

I was interested, so I googled. There are some interesting articles about the school, why the parents founded it, how the parents and students are involved with teachers in terms of curriculum planning, tuition, etc... that the Huffington Post article does not cover.



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[absweetmarie]

Okay, I take back my snarky comment suggesting it doesn't make sense to send a kid to a school founded by the Blue Man Group. I'm a little peeved at myself for not investigating before commenting.

In any case, I read the article, then poked around on the website. As with most stories of this sort, I expect the truth lies somewhere in between the poles ... There does appear to be a bit of a fact-check gap in the HuffPo piece. The "no books" claim seemed implausible to me. So, I went to the website to check it out; the sample lesson plan for kindergarten that I looked at mentions books (and magazines!). As for the kids deciding their own curriculum: If you look at the website, you'll find plenty of details about the curriculum. It doesn't look as if, say, a kid's day could consist of eating Cheetos and watching Yo Gabba Gabba.

Whether the approach works (or whether it works for everyone) the school certainly doesn't appear to be a joke, assuming the website information is even somewhat reflective of the actual experience at the school. So maybe these few parents who talked to the Post didn't like the school. Whatev.

Is this what the HuffPo has come to? Recycling Post stories? Honestly, I thought they were better than that.

[busdriver11]

"I'll bet they can catch a boatload of marshmallows in their mouth with deadly accuracy.

Do you mean that literally?"

I do mean that literally. We've seen a couple of their shows during cruises, and it is unbelievable how they do that. They toss marshmallows from across the stage to each other, and they catch them in their mouths. So many, you lose count. It's a little gross but rather impressive.

[parentOfJunior]

Marshmallows are fine, how about throwing paint at each other and the audience? Or toilet paper? I've been to their show and it scares me to think what they might teach kids to do :-)