Why The LEARNING GROUNDS FOUNDATION?

The first decades of the 21st century have witnessed the evolution of methods that hold the potential to bring about true systems change at individual and community levels. This happens through open and disintermediated direct access to knowledge that has been until recently been subject to stratified restrictions to access, thus preventing true equity of opportunity among various groups of society.  The true nature of learning relates to the comprehension of inter-contextual flows between the different compartments into which information on the various areas of knowledge have been arbitrarily ´packaged´ by institutional systems. In this background, communities that are in the most severe vulnerability know exactly what it means to be systemically betrayed. However, it is these very same conditions of systemic oppression which awaken the quickest aptitude for these communities to bring about the most substantial uplift to their circumstances, when they can find themselves in an enriching environment for self-directed and mutually networked learning and action.

We believe, that the “self-organized thought school” model of decentralized education, being realized through the Learning Grounds project, is one by which such an environment of social nourishment can truly grow roots and thrive.

Our efforts are aimed at the seeding of true intellectuals and the creative awakening among those youth who are currently losing the opportunity to realize their full social capability. This is despite the fact that their direct contact with the effects of socio-economic exploitation should make them the ones best positioned to evolve into society´s ablest problem-solvers. Learning Grounds aims to support the development of safe nurturing environments enriched by the soil of self-directed and mutually networked learning, with the right resources to achieve this.