A visitor who wants to import the magic of Acton Academy to his school, circled the Eagles to ask the secrets to a strong culture.

Their answers:

1. Strong covenants between students.

2. Eagle Bucks and accountability.

3. A Town Council and Council Meetings that made Eagles, and not adults, responsible for creating and enforcing laws.

4. A belief that “we are all in this together, and not separate tribes like the Stanford Prison experiment.”

5.  Socratic discussions where we hold each other accountable for respecting and upholding the discussion process.

6.  Daily, weekly and session long SMART goals, where we have the freedom and responsibility for our own learning.

7.   Running Partners who are assigned, so you learn to get along with people who are different than you.

8   Faith that we really are heroes, who are going to change the world.

Not only do the Eagles know what makes a strong culture, soon they will be able to build their own, in companies, not-for-profits and community groups.  Exactly the kind of everyday heroes that Alexis-de Tocqueville observed in Democracy in America.