Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Experimental College of the Twin Cities

[Deb Chaulk (deb_chaulk]

For Immediate Release                                                  Contact: 
David Boehnke
November 15, 2008                                                         
651.212.0727  |  651.696.8010                                                   
                                                                                
                      
                                                                                
          dboehnke [at] gmail.com  
 
Experimental College Seeks Community Facilitators for Spring Classes  
 
Have you been looking for a community that values freedom of thought, 
thoughtful discussion and dialogue on meaningful topics that cover the full 
range of the human condition—from philosophical to the utterly practical? 
Consider the Experimental College of the Twin Cities or EXCO—locally grown, 
cage-free education since 2006. 
 
EXCO is an organization that creates opportunities in the community for people 
who want to learn; we work with facilitators to find spaces for their classes 
manage a website that help connect learners with teachers, and support the free 
exchange of knowledge. Our mission is to liberate education from the idea that 
learning is something one "must" do, that only experts have knowledge, that we 
can only access education if we can afford tuition—and transform it into 
something desirable, powerful, and accessible for all. At EXCO, everyone can 
teach or take classes and all classes are free.
 
We believe that education can be a powerful force for social change, especially 
when we value the knowledge of each and every person--particularly those that 
have been historically marginalized. We encourage all people to apply and take 
part, and are dedicated to undoing and transforming oppression at personal, 
interpersonal, and institutional levels. Moreover, we see our organizing as 
building an infrastructure for communities and movements to create their own 
education to meet their needs and desires—self-educate with EXCO!  
 
EXCO is currently looking for community facilitators for this spring and 
summer. The subject matter and format of your class is your decision—classes 
can cover any topic, and can be taught anywhere in the Twin Cities. Teaching an 
EXCO class can help build community, shares useful skills or  knowledge, 
address local issues, intentionally bring together people from different 
communities, or simply be a creative excuse to meet new people who share 
similar passions and joys. 
 
EXCO facilitators are volunteers. However, when possible, EXCO provides money 
for supplies and an honorarium for up to $300 for those who cannot facilitate a 
class otherwise. We strongly encourage interested individuals to access our 
online application at http://www.EXCOtc.org.  Have more questions? Thinking of 
facilitating a class and want ideas about getting started? Contact us at excotc 
[at] gmail.com, 651-696-8010.
 
Still not sure?  Twin Cities Metro magazine chose EXCO as one of the top 100 
best things about the cities.  EXCO came in at  number 5!  See what they had to 
say:
 
5. Experimental CollegeEveryone experiments in college. Some do keg stands; 
others blow up all of our preconceived notions about the American educational 
system. The Experimental College was founded in 2006 by a collective of 
Macalester students with a vision of offering an alternative to your everyday 
$50,000 bachelor’s degree. By allowing anyone to teach whatever they like in 
improvised classrooms (libraries, mostly, though “Basic Bike Maintenance” 
convenes at the Sibley Bike Depot in St. Paul), ExCo takes crippling debt out 
of the education equation. No accredited teachers or degrees, but also no 
homework or tuition. Here! [excotc.org]
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