Episode 33 - Jerry Talks About His Mother's Book, My Friend Lenny by Jerry Mintz

Episode 32: Jerry Starts A Community Center And Gets His Degree by Jerry Mintz

Episode 31 - Talk America Adventures by Jerry Mintz

These are notes I made in 1991 on my trip to the First New Schools Festival of the Soviet Union. It was in Simferopol, Ukraine, in Crimea, and the first connections between Western and Eastern European educational alternatives. In some ways, it is very relevant to what is happening there today. - Jerry

In this podcast, Jerry talks about many of the projects, schools, and conferences both He and AERO have started or been involved with.

Episode 28: AERO Helps The Mohawks Start Schools by Jerry Mintz

Episode 27: The 2021 School Starter's Course! by Jerry Mintz

Did you ever wonder about how the early choices you made might have affected your life? This was recently brought shockingly how to me when I discovered that cancer research I was doing as a teenager is now being used to cure chancer.

Did you know that I was a public school teacher for two years, back in the 60's? I've just done the first half of a podcast of my semi-autobiographical " I was a Spy in the Public Schools." It is a slightly fictionalized diary of my experience teaching in a public high school. I had already interned at a Summerhill-based school, so I knew the direction I wanted to go in, but I wanted to see if there was a way to apply it in a public school. This is the basically true and sometimes hilarious story!

Some comments from previewers and alternative starter course members:

"As I began reading the spy book, I felt quite amused, I loved the beginning, it sounded like those detective stories, like Marlow.."

"I enjoyed immensely your style and connected with your journey."

"Wow, Jerry, I love this! I really honor your courage and determination to do what you could for those students--and your candor in sharing about it, including all the school politics."

"Your story was therapeutic for me, in terms of not feeling alone in experiencing craziness in schools."

"One of the most powerful components of your story included the fact that you shared with the powers that be that you were not owned by anyone but hired to do a job and that you would quit before you would kick a student from your class."

"Your piece certainly resonates for me and my own first teaching experiences. It may connect with some young AERO members trying to find their way in their first jobs."

"I listened and enjoyed the story! It's amazing how stuck in their ways some people can be, valuing rigidity and rules over results. Glad you were able to help those kids."

"There must be more coming in a series!

In this episode, Jerry reads from his book, "I Was A Spy In The Public Schools"