Update: This is indeed a Scientology school as many of you pointed out. Here are the full details.
Will Smith has started his own private school in Calabasas, California for children from pre-kindergarten to grade 6 called the New Village Academy. It emphasizes learning by doing, technology and individualized instruction. According to the school’s website, which makes no mention of Smith, they will provide every child with a laptop computer, including pre-k students, and serve an all-organic low-fat sugar-free menu. It will cost $12,500 a year for grades 3-6 and $11,500 for K-2, with financial aid available for families who qualify.
Smith homeschools his two younger children, Jaden, 9 and Willow, 7, and told People Magazine last year that he wanted “to design the system that revolutionizes public education.”
Now Smith has paid about $890,000 to lease an existing school for three years, and classes will start this year, according to the school’s website and the May 26 edition of The National Enquirer.
I have a masters degree in education and many members of my family work in the school system. While the concepts on the website for Smith’s school are well described and sound like a good approach, it’s hard to know how they’ll be executed or if the school will be any good. What’s more is that Smith has made some arguably controversial statements about education. He doesn’t have a bachelor’s degree and never went to college, which is certainly not a requirement for starting a school and he’s been wildly successful in other endeavors in life. He is getting help from qualified experts, and even held a roundtable discussion with education leaders to help come up with ideas for the school. I know I started my son on computer education at a young age, and I do agree with Smith’s general concepts. It might be a decent school.
Smith told Reader’s Digest in an interview in 2006 that he could learn anything he set his mind to and that formal education was not necessary:
RD: Have you ever thought about going back to college?
Smith: The things that have been most valuable to me I did not learn in school. Traditional education is based on facts and figures and passing tests — not on a comprehension of the material and its application to your life. Jada and I homeschool our children, because the date of the Boston Tea Party does not matter.RD: But there are some basics in education that need to be taught.
Smith: Of course there are. Reading, writing and arithmetic, because those are the languages of our country.RD: When you say you homeschool, do you mean you actually teach them?
Smith: No, we have hired teachers who teach what we feel is important. For example, Plato’s Republic — kids need to know that. Why is that not taught in first grade?RD: You think kids in elementary school should read Plato’s Republic?
Smith: Yeah. You cannot be an American without reading it and Aristotle’s Politics. That is what the forefathers of this country read, and they used them to create what I believe is the finest system of government that has ever existed.RD: So, you don’t see any reason to go back to a formal education yourself?
Smith: I know how to learn anything I want to learn. I absolutely know that I could learn how to fly the space shuttle because someone else knows how to fly it, and they put it in a book. Give me the book, and I do not need somebody to stand up in front of the class.RD: They put physics in a book, but I know I could never be a physicist.
Smith: The first step is you have to say that you can.
[From Reader’s Digest via ICYDK]
The website for the school doesn’t say much about religion, except that it is tolerant of all beliefs, backgrounds, and cultural differences. Will and Jada may be closet Scientologists, but you hope that none of that will be pushed on the children in their school. It will be headed by Jacqueline Oliver, Ed.D, that former head of Gillispe private day school in La Jolla, CA. She has no ties to Scientology that I could find.
Update: This is indeed a Scientology school as many of you pointed out. Here are the full details.
Will Smith is shown with his two children, Willow and Jaden, at the Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards on 3/29/08, thanks to WENN. Thanks to the National Enquirer for alerting us to this story.
Actually, why he practices Scientology is now more clear to me after reading this. He sounds like a complete wackadoodle.
I understand what he is getting at in that interview, but he sounds completely asinine. The date of the Boston Tea Party actually is important, dingbat
HO-HUM here in Tampa we fortunatley have our own hero,,,Mr. Derrick Brooks. He started a high school here…no he doesn’t charge a freakin nickel. That takes kids and properly prepares them for college and life. Our community has been blessed with not only great athletes but excellent human beings.. Warrick Dunn who recently rejoined our football team has a program that sets up single mothers that qualify with not only the down payment for their own home but the home comes fully furnished, full of groceries…all they have to do is put the key on their key ring. Sorry Will…you will have to try MUCH MUCH MUCH harder then this little weekend half assed attempt to get our attention here in Tampa.
definitely would NOT put my child in his school
Highly suspect if you ask me- and expensive! (Expensive,huh? just like Scientology!!) Too easy to engage in brainwashing of very young impressionable children. People should always avoid giving their children away to teh care of kooks, be it Michael Jackson or Scientology advocates
The Boston Tea Party IS important, we need to know our history so we understand ourselves. I can’t comment on the Plato and Aristotle as I have not read those myself. Call me shallow, but I deal with real life every day, I like a good murder mystery when I read.
Hell yeah, I’m all about brain candy!
I really don’t know what to say – well that’s a lie – I do.
The general precepts for the school sound eerily similar to the schooling outlined by ex-pupils of Scientology schools (even accepting the fact that noone completely remembers the ins and outs of their schooldays and the reasoning for learning what they learnt).
His comment on the Boston Tea party would suggest that he doesn’t value history. While I know that in modern society a lot of people question the point of learning history (outside of “sexy” subjects like the World Wars) it is of vital importance.
Leaving aside the fact that it is intrinsic in understanding why we are the way we are and to learn on how to recognise that as a society we’re repeating past mistakes, the skills learnt through studying history are beneficial to all aspects of study. Sensible and wide-ranging research, analysing the data, drawing conclusions and stating the information learnt in a readable manner can be applied to all aspects of education and life.
Especially if one is to come out with such asinine statments like “give me a book on how to do it and I can do it” – no love, the book is only one aspect, practice, trail and error are essential.
And lets not even start on the fact that for each topic there are multiple approaches and often multiple desired outcomes.
(For the record, I have trained as an historian but I could never remember names or dates- still can’t – but the skills in research and putting forward the information properly have benefitted me enormously in work)
I like him and admire how he has proven himself as an actor. He’s come a long way from the goofy Fresh Prince days.
However, if the head of his school is a Scientologist you will not likely find that by researching. If Smith is really a Scientologist then I guarantee the head of the school is. They stick together and a venture of this magnitude they would not have an ‘outsider’ at the helm.
I see a lot of Tom Cruise’s bravado and
cock sure attitude in these statements.
Maybe he can learn from a book but he cannot learn nearly as much as with a teacher. Teachers use examples, put things into context and offer different perspectives. I find this quite damaging to teachers actually and would take umbrage if I was one. It reminds me of Tom Cruise taking a (very public) swipe at the entire profession of Psychiatry
in the infamous Matt Lauer interview.
This might be unintentional or just thinly veiled but it’s equally damaging.
Am I the only one who thinks the school sounds ok? I would be weary of the scientology thing, but other than that, I agree that traditional education leaves much to be desired. Alternative schools seem like the best choice in this time and age, especially if you want an active part in your child’s education.
If his children are any indication of the type of school he’s created, then it’s a piece of shit.
His son was such a brat and had such an attitude when he presented at the Oscars that I just wanted to punch him. That school is probably all about Will Smith’s ego.
This is 100% a Scientology related school (it even mentions they use L.Ron Hubbard ‘Tech’!) There are also various other mentions of Scientology-related vocabulary used in their website. What a disgrace to use children for their own benefit. Disgusting.
Yeah, it sounds like a scientology-based offering to me.
Anonymous and Wif, please give specific examples so I can update this and maybe write a new post. Where is the “tech” information on the website? Where is there scientology terminology? Please provide a link and I will write up a whole post about it if you can show me.
I found this on the school’s site:
We emphasize that children look up the words they don’t know in the dictionary as opposed to looking for context clues right away. They then learn exactly what words mean as opposed to “sort of” what words mean.
That’s a Scientology concept that they believe they made up. Tom Cruise has gone on several times about how normal schools don’t teach kids how to use dictionaries.
For me the red flag was ” based on best educational practices from top educators and theorists”. It’s a bit vague not to mention patronizing. Perhaps it’s an over sight but it’s a statement about the entire underpinning of the school that tells you nothing yet leaves the door open for anything.
Another actor courting Scientology whose lost any respect I had for him as well as any money from my purse. 🙁
Someone mentioned that this school is expensive but compared to other private primary schools it actually isn’t. My daughter’s school is 20,000 a year for fourth grade as are all the other private schools in our area and we live in Cleveland. His school also gives out a free computer and although the value of that isn’t much it does add a bit.
Ayrton
Sounds very scientology-ish to me. they are sneaky that way, in that the front groups like Narcanon and Applied Scholastics do not advertise or mention that they are part of the Cult of Scientology.
Bree, every private school pamphlet and website is chock full of patronizing. How else are they going to get people to shell out the equivilent of a compact car on their child for one year?
The school sounds reasonably priced for a private school and I don’t see how teaching your child to look crap up in a dictionary can be chocked up only to Scientology.
At this point, most schools suck so terribly, I would consider sending them to one where the principal worships cat dropping and ear mites if I thought my child would leave there with a decent education.
nice call on the scientology connect. It was the first thing that came to my mind.
Also, ANYONE can start a school. I went to one in Italy that was only open for five years, and no one there had any sort of degrees, just a rented villa and a lot of trust fund kids.
I can see how knowing about the Boston tea party helps us compete with the Chinese/Japanese/Europeans.
Let those idiots deal in science/math and technology.
We are like 5th place in the world in education, behind countries we laugh at, yet we can’t compete with in education, they come to the USA and take the best college spots on educational merit.
Is anyone even looking at what this school offers? I dont know but it sounds great to me and I have nothing to do with Scientology (Heck I dont even really know anything about it) I believe that the education children will be getting in this school would be far more superior than any education in the U.S. Most schools are based on how fast a child can learn and a lot of children don’t really learn much, they stroll through school with memorization and once the topic is over they pretty much forget, and need to re-cap in order to really get what is going on. Whereas in this school, they make sure that you really understand what you are being taught!, Someone doesnt just stand in the front lecturing and asking you to read a book and expect you to know what theyre talking about, they go more in depth and expect you to understand what they say and what the book says! I mean, sure, there are people who grasp things easily, but I’m sure there are MANY people who have had problems learning something, anything! If you could be taught at your own pace you’d understand it better! I believe people learn better at their own pace and it seems like this school is teaching kids at a pace that is comfortable for the child. The more time you spend doing something the better you get at it. You learn by doing! It’s great that they actually take the time to individually adapt to each students needs and thats what schools need because everyone has different paces and different styles of learning! On top of that, 60% of people in general in the US are obese, and this school offers healthy foods unlike public schools that offer high fatty foods. I think its great! I wouldnt mind sending my child to a school like that. Like I said Just because you are the same age as the kid next to you, doesn’t mean that you will learn the same exact way or will learn just as fast! And just FYI, the school does teach Social studies, so don’t worry, your child will be learning history!
I seriously doubt that Will’s school will fix the education gap…
Hi Celebitchy,
Here are my examples, and also look for the similarities between their website and any Adelphi Academy website (Scientology schools.)
First the website is: Newvillageacademy.org
There are numerous references to “understanding what vocabulary” means, and “communication” — this is largely what is taught in Scientology. In the “glossary” section (again an emphasis on understanding words), it is clearly stated they use Study Technology (this is Hubbard based, and says so!)Also, “spiraling” and “Qual” (in the “academics” section) are mentioned. These are also part of the Scientology language. And on that note, notice the types of educational tools used (Heron, etc..) are also used by Adelphi Scientology schools.
I would also bet that 100% of the faculty are involved somehow in Scientology.
There are many more… As I mentioned above look at any Adelphi School’s website, and they are almost identical!
i can say confidentially 100% this is a Scientology school. I have a friend who interviewed there, and they hand out Scientology handbooks at the end of the interview.
“I don’t see how teaching your child to look crap up in a dictionary can be chocked up only to Scientology.”
Again, it’s because dictionaries are the major “tech” that L. Ron believes he invented. Cruise has given several interviews where he said public schools were crap because they didn’t teach kids how to look up things in dictionaries. He claims he was cured of dyslexia because the Scientologists taught him how to use one. No joke. It would seem a little strange for a school to mention using a dictionary on their website otherwise.
I love how he says that he and his wife homeschool, but then really, they’ve hired someone to teach their kids for them. When you pay someone else to teach your kids for you? Yeah, that’s called school. Not homeschool. You might choose the curriculum but you could do the same with many private or charter schools.
Another quick thing to notice:
Out of curiosity I just googled the “teachers.” What a coincidence! Out of 13 of the teachers (I only got through some of them), at least 7 were blatantly on the internet as having completed years worth of Scientology training.
Pretty fishy for a non-scientology school, huh?
Did I miss something? Will Smith’s son Trey was a student at the Sierra Canyon School and I was under the impression that his other children followed. For what it’s worth, Sierra Canyon was founded by two certified teachers and staffed with similar credentialed teachers. While they may have had their faults, religion was never part of the program.
LS – apropos nothing in particular, you’ve hit on something interesting there regarding Tommy’s dyslexia. From what I’ve read about how Scientology auditing reviews reports by analysing and reanalysing each word in isolation, and using dictionaries to calculate each possible permutation of meaning.
I was watching a programme on adult literacy and someone who’s now a published author talked about how he still struggles somewhat with reading – when he’s reading a sentence he can only see and concentrate on one word at a time and is blind to all else and another person agreed it was the same for them. Which is kinda the way that Scientos allegedly read their auditing reports. Just thought it was interesting.
I have to say, that individualised attention, knowledge of technology and good healthy food are wonderful things to provide in a school – but I have already stated why I think it’s a bad idea for any school system (or indeed parent) to ignore subjects like history.
Ok…call me stupid if you want, but since when did Will Smith become involved with Scientology? I thought his grandma would role in the ground if he switched religions. Please update me on that, because I’m really lost here
I have so very much to say on this.
<– public school teacher
First, on the dictionary vs. context clues argument, context clues win. Why? Because when a student can determine the meaning of an unknown word by using the words around it, it does not disrupt the flow of reading. Think about it, what eight year old you know is going to be able to shift attention between two books and have any idea what he or she just read? Sure, using a dictionary is a valuable skill, and one that most certainly should be taught in school, but teaching students to decipher context clues is critical when teaching comprehension.
On to Plato and Aristotle in first grade…. I’m assuming Will didn’t know any seven year olds when he said that. I’ve read both, in college, and it was still rather difficult to wrap my head around all of the concepts and ideas.
As to the crusade to reinvent education, to quote my other gossip idol Lainey, Sit the f*** DOWN, movie star! Come spend a week in my classroom – ANY public school classroom – before you go running your pretty mouth about our schools. I’m sure Will’s teachers will be tickled to know he doesn’t think they had anything to do with his education.
Scientologist or not, smokin’ hot or not, my esteem for Mr. Smith is seriously on a downturn.
Okay, the price of the tuition for school is not expensive. It’s actually cheap compared to other private schools in the westside. Usual cost is @ $20,000 to $27,000.
I think it’s great what he is doing. He is not wacky or crazy. He is acutally really intelligent. He had a full ride to MIT but instead he went into show buisness.
i am proud of him and i just hope that when the haters start to attack him as some of you have i hope that he sticks to this…
funny how although he has already stated he is not a scientologist people still accuse him of being one.
in a country that is on paper accepting of other religions it is wrong that he or even tom cruise has to defend their beliefs..
Stay strong Will…this is America and America likes it’s black men to be docile like children…stay strong.
This is a SCN school. Specifically look at the curriculum section on the website. They use the Heron Basics Program which was developed by Delphi Schools. The outline of their social studies program paraphrases the first four Dynamics of life. The “Ethics Section” touts all the high points of SCN Ethics and Justice and frames in the context of “we are a village” and the section that covers the Qualifications Department is simply the VFPs and functions of any Div 5 of any Scn Org paraphrased and adapted to use in a school.
I have a feeling that this is the reinvention of Delphi and will bet top Dollar that Lisa Marie’s kids will be attending.
What will smith and other rich black celebs need to do is go into some the poor black communities and make improvements to those schools instead of starting ones only for the rich and privilaged. but then,thats black people for you; they never like to see any of their own get ahead.:?
there is no debate over whether or not New Village is a Scientology school. i work with independent schools, i know for a fact it is, and I saw the handbook to prove it.
“Stay strong Will…this is America and America likes it’s black men to be docile like children…stay strong.”
What utter BS. That is Hollywood, lanette, and Hollywood likes its (sorry, you had a typo) crazies to be in Scientology.
I’ve read Aristotle and Plato. I’ve read Marcus Aurelius’s “Meditations.” I know Socrates and all American literature from 1800 until now.
What does this have to do with Will Smith’s new school? Nothing, I just know a lot.
PamelaStanley – I went to Sierra Canyon and that school is FAR from a Scilon school. It is one of the best and would NEVER subscribe to a ’cause-celeb’.
WILL SMITH IS NOT A SCIENTOLOGIST! Yes, he is friends with Tom Cruise who is, but that DOES NOT make Will one. As he has stated numerous times before, he is CATHOLIC – NOT A SCIENTOLOGIST! What is so difficult about that for you morons to understand??
Walks like a duck?
I was raised within the CoS and indoctrinated from age 10 and only managed to break away in the last few years. Scientologists live in a brave new world of sorts and it is VERY hard for me to miss the sign of indoctrination in another person, especially when it comes to SCN propaganda.
You think Smith is being candid about his views on education? He just regurgitated a CoS pamphlet, copied the Delphi program and called it something new.
For all intents and purposes, Smith is playing the part of a Scientologist and knowingly or not, he is playing the part of a CoS puppet.
“cause-celeb”… 😆 😆 great pun there ChurchOfCylontology
I don’t know but is it me or are posters rather paranoid? Do you also see LRH in your wardrobes at night? Grow up. It is a school and it it wanted to say it is scientologist, I am sure they would say just that. Get over yourselves and get a life. I am a fan of Will and I have always wondered why his word is not taken and some just assume he is a scientologist. I am sure if he was he would say. Stop being paranoid.
ok wait let me get this, so he homeschools his kids but he wants people to come to his school?
OMG! wat happened to Will Smith. SCIENTOLOGY?!?!?!?!?!?! o wow…. i agree with most… i think he has gone psycho 😯
Seen many responses on why it IS important to know our American history. Would like to add this….how about appreciation to those who came before us and fought for what we now enjoy. Their lives are worthy of study and appreciation.
It’s a little scary to see how some posts latch onto a phrase in an interview and take it to mean that memorizing dates means Smith does not value history. Quite the opposite, it seems. He values the underpinnings of what formed the opinions of our founding fathers. (Even our early public buildings were modeled after the Greeks, you know.) To know that Smith has read what these men read to understand them better…well, like Peter Jennings and Barry Diller, also non-college-goers but supremely intelligent, he is more truly educated for diving into the information himself. School has its plusses, but to take only what most schooling offers and call yourself “done” is not very, well, smart. To consult with the level of educators he has listed, to hold roundtables and really think things through – WOW. Are any of you naysayers doing anything close?
He is a pioneer, as is his wife – doing so much more with their lives than sitting on movie sets and next to pools. I was completely impressed.
And btw, it is called “homeschooling” if your kids are learning in your home – and it is even smarter that they hired teachers they scrutinized and believed in. Those kids are going to be amazing adults, I bet. I can’t wait to see how they emerge!
I hope that his school in some way affects our educational system. There are some teachers who do make their studens think more broadly. I think they’d love it if the system supported that more.
And the food, too. I wish my son were not too old for this place.
My son’s school is $27,000 a year – so Smith’s school is about right around here…and as is true with so many private schools, MANY kids do get financial help, and diversity (financial and racial) is a focus at every school I ever toured. It’s far better than it looks at first glance.
Will Smith is a great actor. His personal believes do not matter in what I think he can do, act. I think the school may be good, if he decides to put his own kids in his own school. The DATE of the Boston Tea Party doesn’t matter. The acts of those at the Boston Tea Party matter. I agree and disagree with Will Smith.
It’s so easy to jump to conclusions. While I don’t completely agree with Will, I do understand where he’s coming from. Most people seeking education beyond high school are not doing it for personal enrichment; they’re doing it so that they can specialize in a particular field. The large majority of the growth that you see after a person has gone off to college or grad school is due to other factors, not sitting in a classroom five days a week being lectured to.
I learned a long time ago that it’s so much easier to learn when I can apply what I’m doing to real life. Sure, it sounds good to say, “You need to know the date of the Boston Tea Party,” but how is that going to be applied to life as the person experiences it today? While history is important, it tends to hold more value when the person can understand (individualistically) how that history applies to the person that they are today. For instance, I’m Black. The Boston Tea Party did not bring about any new, positive changes for Africans at the time, so I couldn’t possibly care less. British or American rule, Africans were still slaves. It all has to be put into context.
I do agree with Will when he states that children really aren’t learning anything these days. Though I don’t teach, I do tutor grades 3-College, and it is appalling how few of them are able to add fractions or write complete sentences. Children are being taught how to pass tests; they are memorizing instead of learning. It makes no sense to me that almost child that I work with has to be retaught information from the previous year/semester/quarter instead of just being given a refresher in the subject.
If his school is going to combat these flaws and not push religion of any sort on these kids, then I’m all for it. Not sure about Plato and whatnot; that is not something children need to try to grapple with in elementary school. But if his school means that more children are going to learn, then I’m all for it.
From which accredited school does Smith have his Master’s in education? It says on IMDB that he did not attend M.I.T. where he was accepted.
I have a M.Ed and the fact Mr. Smith’s school is based on individualized instructions give me a reason to applaud his endeavor. Every student learn differently. Understanding “how” a student learn and teaching to his/her learning style is not a consideration in traditional classrooms.
Individualize instructions is a specific step for enhancing a student potential and increasing academic success. A student given an opportunity to progress at their pace is important for confidence and self-esteem development.
Sue can’t learn math as well as Tom, but with her learning math at her pace, she can perform adequately to pass a Standardized Math Exam.
Educators often teach to the test not to the student’s ability and Mr. Smith need to given gratitude for bridging the gap on the learning curve.
Marinda Ferell
The Hubbard study technology is totally nonreligious. Looks like more and more people like Smith are finding it useful and it doesn’t mean they are Scientologists. But scientologists will be attracted to the school because they agree with it’s methods. That’s all that’s happening. Sorry if it’s less exciting that the media spins it.
The exact DATE of the boston tea party is worthless! The idea should of course be taught, and I agree with Smith.
I was wondering when the clams were going to rise up and defend their little buddy.
I’m an SP, write it down.
how do you join “Will Smith’s private school is accepting applications for Fall
I would like to know why history is NOT important!! He was cool for awhile. I think he lost his mind when he befriended Tom Cruise….who was cool once, too!
I think this school is non secular everyone is aware what he believes but it does not seem to be tied to the school – perhaps the way the students will learn but I do not see a mention of scientology in the school lesson plan