At Acton Academy, we turn over the governance of the classroom to Eagles.  Above, the past Council met with its recently elected replacements to discuss ways to inspire their fellow travelers to even greater heights.

Why do we trust the setting, encouragement and enforcement of maintaining incredibly high community learning standards to a group of students?  Because they govern themselves far better than if lorded over by adults.  And because we want our Eagles to be leaders, not rule followers.

So how does a beginning author or artist or game designer set their own standards of excellence?  By looking at world class examples and comparing those to his or her first attempts.

Below, photos of Eagles creating and comparing prototype games.

And most importantly, the criteria they developed to judge whether or not a game is “world class.”

Here, an example of a group critique in action.

Because if you can learn to set your own standards; set them high; judge your progress draft after draft, gathering honest critiques as you move towards excellence, you are well on your way to the mastery of any skill, craft or art.