The Saxifrage School: Mixing Humanities and Trades

I like this idea.  (HT: Janine Giordano-Drake)

Classes in Tim Cook’s two-year old college, The Saxifrage School, are held in coffee shops, public libraries, apartments, and YMCAs.  Tuition is $395 a class.  The Wall Street Journal recently profiled this Pittsburgh school.  Here is a taste:

The school—which takes its name from a William Carlos Williams poem—is built around the idea of a dual curriculum in the humanities and trades—a step, Mr. Cook said, toward giving students marketable skills on the way to becoming productive, thoughtful citizens.

Saxifrage is woven into the bustle of three East Pittsburgh neighborhoods. A graphic-design course is taught in a coffee shop. A course on organic agriculture uses the boiler room in an abandoned city pool house for its seed-starting workshop. Other offerings are Computer Programming and Carpentry & Design. The courses are taught by working professionals and craftsmen, and the plan is to hire adjuncts and Ph.D students from traditional colleges to teach humanities classes as they are added.

Sign me up!  I would love to adjunct at the Saxifrage School.