Promoting a Holistic Education

Former luxury jewellery designers Cynthia and John Hardy turned their dream into reality three years ago when they sold the John Hardy business to focus on their latest project, the Green School in Bali. The school, which opened in 2008 and is completely made of bamboo, educates children (aged three to sixteen) about the environment, offering them a real experience in the midst of the jungle in Ubud. Vivienne Tang visits Cynthia Hardy on campus to talk about their plans for the school.

Why did you two decide to sell the jewellery brand and build a school instead?

It had gotten so big. It wasn’t as much fun anymore. We spent more time on it and made more collections. It was harder and harder to please the stores. I wasn’t getting that heart feeling anymore. We started it with nothing. We started it with a guy who was washing dishes in our house, who would then polish the jewellery. And we would pack it by ourselves. It was this tiny little company, and all of a sudden there were 1,200 people 20 years later. It just became a bit of a grind.

Our kids at that time were 8 and 6. And we wanted to be more in their lives. And we thought that if we were founding and creating a school for them, that we would be more in their lives [laughs].

So that was the initial idea for the school?

We had been home schooling for three years, because we were travelling to and from New York. It was required that we had to have a home schooling teacher. And when we no longer needed to do home schooling, we looked at the schools in Bali and felt that it would be a beautiful contribution for us to leave something really important behind for future generations. It was just exciting for us to manifest something that had never been done like this. It was a new challenge, kind of like starting all over again.

What is the philosophy of the Green School?

The idea is sustainability. And the dream was a school-centred community and have teachers living in the green village. And John is building ten or fifteen bamboo houses to sell, so people can walk their kids to school and form a community around what Green School is all about. The idea is to stimulate thinking and enable young kids to figure out what is going to be required to save the planet and to live in the next century, because we’re delivering them a whole bunch of problems – way too much carbon in the atmosphere, too big of a population, no control, trash and toxins. So we have green study programs five days a week. And the kids are composting and farming. They’re learning from ground zero what it means to take care of the earth. And every day they’re sitting in bamboo chairs with bamboo tables. And through osmosis they feel the natural world, and they don’t have barriers in the classroom. So if the kids have ADD for example, it’s a real challenge. Those kids have like 9,000 more distractions than they would in a normal classroom. But they’re doing really well because of the freedom they have by nature of their environment. So it’s kind of an experiment this school. And, all mothers want their kids to have the right certification, so they can get into college. So we’re coupling that greenicity with the math, the science and the English. We’ve got the Cambridge exams. This is our first year to bring in Cambridge. But that’s the way we’re going. And we’ll probably do Ivy. So we started with grade 8. This year we had grade 9. Next year we add grade 10.

What kind of languages do the kids learn?

It’s basically taught in English, but there are Indonesian teachers alongside of the Western teachers in many of the classrooms. But we’re looking for a French and an Italian teacher. Right now we have somebody that is teaching German to the older kids.

What sort of plans do you have for the school?

The plans for the school are to create a very robust community and an academic environment here with 500 kids. Today we’re at 120. So our dream is to pull the most fabulous teachers from around the world and interesting families to create this community where there is just learning going on 24/7. And that will be complemented by green camp, which needs to become much more environmentally focused. The dream of the school is to have visiting professors and interns, and a constant sharing of really interesting stimulus and knowledge.

How many teachers are there?

There are about 16 Western teachers and probably 12 Indonesian teachers.

What are you most proud of?

The execution of the buildings that John designed.

I was told that a building only takes three months to build. Is that right?

The hardware of the central building, Heart of School, only took three months. That was a miracle. For an average building you’ve got 15-20 workers. The Heart of School probably had 80. I’m also proud of the general level of happiness I see with the children and teachers here.

I believe the school has been very successful so far. What does success mean to you?

Well, a success for me in terms of Green School would be a waiting list, where your revenue exceeds the expenses. Today the expenses exceed the revenue, so in my mind we have a long way to go to get to a break-even point. Success means to me: happy customers, happy students, happy families, happy teachers, challenged, stimulated, motivated, complaining for the right reasons, “I have too much homework!” Oh I love that complaint. We need more of that. Fit minds, fit bodies. When we founded the school, we talked about the four intelligences. We talked about IQ, which we all know about; KQ, which is the physical, EQ, emotional; and SQ, spiritual. So it’s the learning by doing; singing, art, self-expression, kind words as opposed to violence, yoga and mind-body practices. I want to have all the kids doing yoga, not by choice.

Can the kids choose some of the classes they attend?

No, the classes are too small. The kids go with what we’re giving them. And the alternative subjects for the higher grade kids are environmental science, life skills, business studies and green studies. And all the younger kids also have green studies. But there’s not a lot of choice yet. There could be, when we can afford to have more teachers by having more kids. So a successful school to me is one with a waiting list, when we have 250 kids enrolled and 50 on the waiting list. Delivering excellence, if people can walk around and go, “Excellent!” Not just the physical, not just one aspect of it, but everything.

What has been the response from the local community in Bali?

They feel pretty shocked that a Westerner would come in and take their kids back to the future to farming rice. Kids cut it themselves, thresh it and take it to the mill, where they will take it down to brown rice, not white rice, and then they will cook it and eat it. And the next time they will have rice on their plate, they will know how much work, labour and cost goes into that. We also have pigs, buffalos, cows and goats. They’re not incorporated enough, but will be down the road. So to have a thriving little robust and self-sustainable farming community would be a success for me. A sustainable model would be successful. Everybody talks about sustainability, but real sustainability is a high bar.

What would you change about the normal school system?

The physicality is one thing. Being in the middle of a jungle with open walls is a huge difference. Our blackboards are bamboo with chalk paint on it. I want kids to have the possibility to really experience the real world, and to learn by doing. One of the things the 8th grade kids did last year was, they built a club house. They measured everything by hand and dug out the ground, measured where they put the bamboo poles, they laid the floor, drilled the bamboo. They built the whole thing. Balinese carpenters were standing there sort of hand-cuffed, telling them what to do. So the kids have a full appreciation of it.

How much does it cost to enroll your kid?

I think the nursery school kids are US$5,000 a year. And the oldest kids are US$10,000. We’re the second highest priced school in Bali.

Where are most kids from?

We’re the largest American population on the campus, Holland, Belgium, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Italy, France and Australia. About eight families came to Bali to be in Green School. They heard or read about us. Some parents think about moving their families here because of the school. That’s really powerful!

For further information, go to www.greenschool.org