Why do I think Hampshire might be an appropriate place for me to
   continue my education?* It is difficult for me to pinpoint any
   one particular reason why I would like to continue my learning
   experience there, since it is the whole idea of Hampshire that
   attracts me.* Once I read the Viewbook from among dozens of
   colleges, I KNEW that this was the place that I wanted to be
   at.* Something "clicked" between the college's philosophy and my
   own.* Just about all that I can tell you about Hampshire and me
   is stuff that you already know.* I suppose that I might as well
   begin here. Last year, around October of '88, I read the book on
   the Summerhill school in England by the founder of the school.*
   I didn't read Summerhill because of a school project, but
   because my English teacher suggested that this book would be
   something that I would enjoy.* This came at a time where we had
   just begun Henry Thoreau's Walden and Civil Disobedience.* She
   was right about the book and me.* The theories of which
   Summerhill was created truly felt "right" to me, and I really
   wish that the school, or others like it (not the
   Montessorian-type of schools) were around today.*** The students
   had just as much say as the teachers had; everyone's opinion was
   valid in some way or another.* The only problem that I can see
   with that book is that it doesn't give any other viewpoints of
   Summerhill.* It is a book idealizing the school; it could almost
   be called propagandist.* But I still believe in what it is
   saying. Hampshire College, to me, holds many of the same ideals
   as Summerhill school had.* The students, from what I have been
   told, hold positions in all but two of the administrative
   posts.* As a student, I would have the ability to choose my own
   destiny, not by picking only certain courses, handing in all of
   the homework and doing well on all of the tests, but by
   designing my course of study by using the teachers as guides not
   like guide dogs that go where THEY want to go, but that lead you
   in the direction that YOU want to go in, encouraging you to go
   alone and SEE.* I would be able to learn what I want to learn
   and how I want to go about getting the information.* I feel
   that, in Hampshire, I would have a freedom that many don't get
   the chance to experience unless they already have the free will
   and the ambition to go about teaching themselves.* i see people,
   working in an office situation, that live out their secondary
   school-type lifestyle with little variation.* This is a narrow
   interpretation of office life, but it is what I sometimes see,
   usually among men, hooting and howling at a beautiful woman, and
   saying the same, old dirty jokes among one another.* What
   strikes me as funny is the fact that many high school boys act
   the "machismo", imitating what they think as mature without
   realizing the fact that this attitude, among men, is the way
   THEY thought that they were supposed to act as teenagers.* Some
   people get stuck in a cycle and never rise above it.*
   Free-thinking is the only way to beat this type of control.*
   Hampshire College would give me, as well as many others, the
   ability to never get caught in this cycle in the first place.
   Another reason that I would like to continue my education here
   is the Five-College system.* I have been told that this isn't
   the only system of its kind, but when I asked for her to name
   one single place with a similar system, she couldn't answer me.*
   I am aware that many colleges have programs that allow you to
   take courses in other institutions, but I have never seen one
   that was so encouraged and well planned as the Five-College's.*
   The free bus that goes from one school to another doesn't hurt
   much either.* With this ability, I would be able to take more
   extensive courses in MUSIC COMPOSITION (one of my interests)
   than I might be able to take if I was in Hampshire College
   alone.* And yet, even with this University-Style of learning, I
   would still be in a small school, taking most of my courses
   there. In the eighth grade, my mom prompted me to take a test
   for a private school that was giving out scholarships for those
   that matched the school (as shown in the test) and had financial
   need.* I took the test and apparently did quite well, since I
   was "competing" with twelve or thirteen other people and made it
   into the school.* This school, known as "Vail-Deane", is where I
   have been learning for the past three or so years.* It is a
   small school, having only 202 students ranging from
   Pre-Kindergarten to Twelfth Grade.* Being in a class of only
   thirteen people really lets one get an individualized
   education.* It is a very open school in many ways.* The younger
   kids aren't "hardened" like they are (or at least as I was) in
   public school and are more able to show their feelings.* They
   have no trouble joking around with me as I, too, am open to
   them.* We call ourselves, the "Vail-Deane family" and we are,
   even though many of us lack the ability to realize that.*
   "Everyone is important" seems to be one of our "mottos" is no
   one is "left out" or able to hide behind a book with our small
   classes.* This ability to nurture one's own learning capacity is
   encouraged here and is what I like bout Hampshire College.* I
   want to continue with a heightened version of Vail-Deane's
   learning system - "to learn by teaching oneself".* These ideas
   about Vail-Deane may not be the official ideas or even ideas
   that anybody outside of myself have noticed, but they are what I
   feel about Vail-Deane is showing us to be - to be open-minded
   and fair, allowing everyone to have their say or, at least,
   their own viewpoint of things and not to get impressed with
   someone else's ideals and values. I really wish that I knew what
   I could say that would convince you, without a doubt, that I
   belonged in Hampshire.* Unfortunately, I know that there is no
   one thing that would convince you of that.* It taes a
   combination of these essays, creative work, which, in my case,
   is a cassette of my piano playing, and my transcript.* I know
   that, if I don't make it into Hampshire this year, or if
   Financial Aid doesn't cover the costs, I will get a job or two
   and work and save until I can cover the costs for the next
   year.* Hampshire College IS where I want to continue my
   education, whether or not these reasons that I gave seem to show
   it, and I will try my hardest to make it here.* This school is
   what I consider the IDEAL of education - to allow the student to
   teach him/herself past what the teacher taught.* I hope you will
   consider me for I feel, if I am accepted here, that I will give
   something truly unique to this school.