Unlike most schools, our school has no fixed requirements—neither for homework or for exams. Rather, we expect that you will, with your sponsor and fellow students, be exploring the aspects of Emergence-based learning which you find interesting.
This said, while this may seem a bit vague, a big part of what you’ll be expected to do here will be to contribute to the community in two ways.
- By developing your own sense of ongoing lines of questioning about human nature.
- By feeding back into the community what you discover.
The first requirement—developing lines of questioning—will be the heart and soul of your work here. Not just occasionally, mind you. You’ll need to incorporate this into your everyday life. This means, besides attending the monthly seminars and sponsor groups, you’ll also need to do things on your own to develop these interests. For instance, you can watch the Emergence-based videos and readings in the school library, visit the other Emergence websites, or you can research things out in the world, by choosing sources on your own.
Obviously, a good place to start is in the school library. There you’ll find hundreds of Emergence-related videos and articles. There are also five, and soon to be six, already-published books on the subject, available online, as well as many possible conversations with fellow students.
The point here is simple. No one is going to tell you what and when to study. This means you’ll need to find the motivation inside yourself to do these things. If you fail to do this, it not only means you’ll learn very little while you’re here. It also means you’ll have very little to contribute to the rest of the community. And in our school, creating community IS the main source of inspiration and motivation.
As for attending groups, in particular, the one a month, 4th Saturday of the month, Seminar Group, please know we understand if, on rare occasions, you may be unable to attend. However, as missing even one group will put you behind the rest of the community, you will be unable to attend any future groups, including Grand Rounds groups, until you have done the following make-up work in your Sponsor meetings:
- First, you will need to watch the entire posted video of that group, with the goal being to learn, and begin to put into your life, at least one new thing.
- Second, you will then need to give a ten-minute presentation to your sponsor group about this learning and how you have begun to use it in your life.
Finally you should know, some who initially find doing the required work at the university easy eventually find doing it too hard. Should this be you, please know, no one here will judge you for needing to resign. At the same time, should you need help to find this motivation, you have only to ask and you’ll find us ready and open.