Last week I was fortunate to meet and listen to Takaharu Tezuka who was an architect for the World’s Best Kindergarten. The reasons behind the circular building are many, including, physical activity (running in circles), a sense of family and belonging, equality: no segregation, simplicity, visibility, indoor/outdoor and creating relationships.

Other speakers at the conference compared school buildings to prisons. Square. Hallways. Classrooms with square furniture. Routines. Bells. Timetabled outdoor time. Fenced in.

In reference to the title of this blog, we were challenged by one speaker to ask ourselves, “Should we build a school? Are schools (as we know them) the best way to learn?”