What is a folk school?

What is a folk school?

Since their beginnings in 19th century Denmark, folk schools have emphasized hands-on learning that is at once intergenerational and non-competitive—learning for the sake of learning. They also endeavored to capture and preserve traditional skills before being lost to the new ways. Those new ways were quicker and cheaper, but the price paid was the loss of individual satisfaction in creating something with one’s own hands, as well as the sense of community that accompanied the practice and sharing of those skills. Folk schools represent a reaction to cultural and technological changes and an effort to salvage the skills, crafts and knowledge that evolved from working with one’s hands (and mind) in a creative expression often lost today.

A growing movement

The folk school movement arrived in the United States in the early 1900’s, one of the first being the John C. Campbell Folk School founded in 1925. Today there are over 30 established folk schools scattered across the country. The movement continues to gain traction in the U.S. as Americans find themselves longing (sometimes unconsciously) for the creative outlet of working with their hands and the quiet confidence that comes with practice and mastery of a craft. 

The frenetic pace at which we find ourselves today has led many to reconsider our priorities and practices. Increasingly, people seek the slower and more intentional pace the experiences of a folk school offers. Henry David Thoreau described “captains of industry” (those of us laboring all day, week in and week out to make a buck) as “living lives of quiet desperation.” It might be said that folk schools seek to save people from these “lives of quiet desperation” by offering a refuge—or at least a break—from the whipsaw lives many of us are surprised to find ourselves leading.