A School in the Jungle With No Walls & Lessons Every Teacher Needs to Hear

In part one of my S5E32 Schoolutions conversation, Dr. Benjamin Freud, Head of Upper School at Green School Bali, challenges conventional beliefs about education. This conversation explores the philosophy of education, questioning whether traditional approaches truly foster learning. We discuss the future of education, focusing on sustainable living and environmental education as pathways to deeper understanding and innovation.

We cover:
→ Why "learning through doing" is not the same as learning and doing, and why that distinction matters for instructional strategies and lesson planning
→ How low engagement and disengaged students aren't behavior problems but design problems
→ Why global citizenship is one of the most dangerous phrases in a school mission statement
→ The difference between regenerative design, sustainability, and what it means for inspiring students and thriving schools
→ The case for philosophy in K–12 as a tool for student participation, critical thought, and whole child development
→ What biomimicry reveals about inclusive classrooms, anti-bias teaching, and a pro-kid mindset that actually scales beyond the jungle

Some Episode Mentions:

• Regenerative Education: Quality Emerges Through Community Voices
• Bruno Latour
• A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History  by Manuel De Landa 
• The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker 
• Coconut Thinking 
• The Bird Lab 

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction — Meet Dr. Benjamin Freud
1:45 From Paris to Bali: Ben's arc into education
3:30 Bruno Latour and the power of assemblages
5:00 Green School Bali — what makes it different
7:00 Learning & doing (not learning through doing)
9:00 Why skills-based education can be dangerous
11:00 Preparing students for an unknown future
13:00 The sixth mass extinction — education's missing priority
15:00 AI, outputs are dead — it's all about inputs now
18:00 The bio collective and what "we" really means
19:30 The Bird Lab — biomimicry for regenerative design
22:00 Why inclusion always involves exclusion
24:30 Lightning round begins
25:00 Why "global citizenship" is a dangerous phrase
26:30 Stop teaching world history — teach global history
27:30 More philosophy in schools
28:30 History should be taught backward
29:30 What's coming in Part 2: rubrics and assessment

🎧 New episodes every Monday & Friday with bite-sized Wednesday reel bonus content.
📧 Connect with me as a thought partner to help you cultivate curious learners who advocate for what they believe in.
🎵 Music: Benjamin Wahl

When teachers, coaches, administrators, and families grow together, they create schools where everyone is inspired and every student is fully engaged, supported, and ready to thrive.