Peter Bergson on Open Education

Off-Trail Learning

Peter Bergson is the co-founder of two self-directed learning centers in the Philadelphia area: Open Connections (openconnections.org) and Natural Creativity Center (naturalcreativity.org). We discuss Peter’s journey from creativity consultant to early childhood educator, his collaboration with John Holt, fighting for better homeschooling laws in the 80s, growing a tiny self-directed learning center in a bigger and better-funded one, the importance of “sense of belonging” for young people, and his attempt to bring his ideas to inner-city Philadelphia. Peter stars in the 2020 documentary “Unschooled” (unschooledthemovement.com), which I highly recommend. The new center that his children have started is Cupola Academy (cupolaacademy.org).