Though Oskar has a curious mind, he often found himself bored and unsatisfied in the classes he was taking in high school. The path laid out for him was to continue taking honors and AP classes, but what was missing was room for him to explore what he was interested in. At BLC, Oskar found an incredible community and an ability to enjoy learning again. Oskar moved on from BLC in 2020 and now is attending Bard College.

In Oskar’s Own Words:

Before I came to BLC, I attended a large public high school, where I took honors and AP classes. It was a bad fit for me — I spent most of my time sitting around, either having done all the classwork ahead of time, or waiting for class to start, or lacking all motivation. Being constantly evaluated and graded was stressful and hard on me; I often felt as if I didn’t know at all what was going on and, despite my high grades, I felt like I somehow wasn’t right for school.

Really it was the school that wasn’t working for me. BLC gave me many opportunities to find myself and the things I liked and didn’t like. At BLC I learned to do things because I wanted to, or, really, I relearned the ability to enjoy learning, and to do it eagerly. At BLC I took classes in subjects I had never before (art history, an independent study-project in evolution) and found subjects and ideas that fascinated me in a way that I had not experienced before. I read a lot at BLC — I discovered that I really like to read — and over two-and-a-little years I read my way through an incredibly diverse selection of books. I am confident that I read more, of my own volition, in any given semester at BLC, than I would have through most of high school. And what was special about it is that nobody was telling me to read books, I wasn’t receiving a grade for it, I was doing it because I wanted to. Of course, I wasn’t reading books 24/7, and when I wanted, or felt that I needed to, I could do nothing. Somedays, most days in fact, I would take walks, to clear my head, to bask in the sun and the freedom to be walking around during the school day.

At BLC I feel I recovered from my dehumanizing high school and, in several senses, actually began to live again. Yes, my mind was awakened again, but, equally important, I felt that I could be a living person. I could be tired, or sick, or imperfect, and I wouldn’t be judged for it. At BLC I found an incredible community — probably the best community I’ve ever known — that accepted me as a person, and as a curious mind.

Testimonial by Margaret, Oskar’s mom:

Shortly before Oskar left his high school for BLC, we attended a meeting with teachers and administrators about his individualized learning plan. The meeting was to talk about how Oskar was doing, how they could meet his needs, and what his path through senior year should be. The only problem was that none of these plans took any account of what he loved to do, or what really wasn’t working for him. The plan was for him to take lots of math and physics — because those were the “hard” classes, not because those were the subjects he was interested in. Supposedly, this was the path to college. But it was clear that Oskar wasn’t happy, that the classes weren’t working for him, and that it definitely was not the path for him.

Just as Oskar started at BLC, we were on family vacation in Ashville, and his dad bought him a whole box of books of classic literature from a library book sale. Once he started reading those books — and many more, all of his own choice — and working with the mentors at BLC, he really was on his path. Leaving high school, he found his interests, and his motivation. He loves to read and loves to think about what he reads. His way of processing what he has read is through writing: at BLC, he had the time and space to reflect, and write, on his own terms. (And if your kid has been in a high school English class, you know that’s not how they teach writing or reading).

Update by Margaret:

Oskar just started freshman year at college (what a year to start). He is at Bard, where first-year students begin the year with a 3-week Language and Thinking intensive. I’m appreciating Oskar’s BLC experience even more now: the classes are demanding, they’re reading a writing a lot, but I know Oskar has the focus and self-motivation to not only get the work done, but take care of food and laundry and all those life things as well. Thinking about Oskar as a college student, I think perhaps the most important thing he took away from BLC is the idea that learning doesn’t begin or end with the assignment from the professor: last week, he said he needed more books, “Mom, you can’t just read the book that’s assigned, you have to connect it with other stuff!” So yeah, he’s ready for college and beyond.