The following is an excerpt from “A Club Med for the Mind” by Ron Gross in September 3,1990 edition of Adult and Continuing Education. Even though the article is over 25 years old, it’s still as relevant today.

If there were a summer camp for lifelong learners, what would it look like?

For me, such a “Club Med for the Mind” would have these primary characteristics: 

• The program would engage the “whole brain”: the imagination, emotions, and social consciences of participants, as well as their minds.
• It would not be organized by academic disciplines with offerings in history, literature and the sciences- but in more integrated ways. 
• Participants would be encouraged to both learn and teach. 
• Learners would exercise considerable self-direction and would have a maximum choice in what and how they learned.
• The focus would be on real-life problems, broadly conceived (not narrow vocational or professional skills) and on the future rather than the past.
• Participation would be intergenerational and would draw from both academic and non-academic life.
• The program would signal its success the way any successful camp does: by generating lots of repeat business-participants who found it so exhilarating (and continually different and challenging) that they come back year after year.

Such a program has been thriving for over 40 years at the Creative Education Foundation’s annual conference, CPSI.  This year CSPI is June 19-24 in Buffalo, NY.

New & Improved’s Senior Partners will be leading 3-day courses:

Bob Eckert, Creative Leadership: Building and  Sustaining Innovation Culture

William Grace Frost, Facilitating CPS

Kristen Peterson, Springboard to Creative Problem Solving

Start to register here
To receive your 30% discount, enter Discount Code NEW30 when prompted for the discount code toward the end of the process