It costs $28,000 or more to enter kindergarten at the Blue School in New York City. The school, founded by the theatrical Blue Man Group only a few years ago, is already a success. It has 61 students in the elementary grades and a backlog of applicants.
The mission of the school is enticing: "Our mission is to cultivate creative, joyful and compassionate inquirers who use courageous and innovative thinking to build a harmonious and sustainable world."
Wow.
At a time when creativity and innovation will likely be the hallmarks of the most successful companies and countries in the new global economy, a school that hopes and plans to make kids creative is welcomed news. But again, only the rich need apply -- The Blue School is expensive.
Jenny Anderson of The New York Times quotes Matt Goldman, one of the founders "We've become what we were rebelling against."
"The Blue School, consciously or not, tapped into one of New York's great and frustrating economic paradoxes. In an entrepreneurial city where even volatile commodities like real estate eventually find their equilibrium, the desire for private school seats has outpaced supply for many years, in some cases by an order of magnitude."
In a letter to parents, Goldman says,
"Since first establishing The Blue Man Creativity Center Early Childhood Program, we have been awed and humbled by the enormity of this project and have been blown away by how far it has come so quickly."
Yes, success in education is highly regarded.
One of the Schools advisers is Sir Ken Robinson, author of "The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything," and former Director of The Arts in Schools Project, an initiative to develop the arts education that influenced the framing of the National Curriculum in England.
He is also one of many today calling for basic changes in the curriculum for all public schools. And that is the question: How can we make schools like these and others popping up around the nation affordable?