Election Section

Berkeley Independent Study student Amber Manuel, the youngest of four children, will be the first to complete high school when she graduates this June. 

Behind the desk in the reception area, Amber recently shared her story—while answering phone calls, assisting students and staff, and keeping an eye on an unlocked bike parked in the courtyard. All the while, the soft-spoken 17-year-old senior bounced her bright-eyed, three-month-old baby girl, Aamari, on her lap. 

Amber, who helps out in the Independent Study office twice a week in hope of gaining job skills, also meets with teachers then, and gets her weekly assignments, which she completes at her mother’s home in Richmond. Her stepmom usually cares for Aamari, but was unable to on this day. 

No one seems to mind when Amber brings Aamari. On the contrary, the level of personal attention Amber gets from Independent Study staff contrasts sharply with the lack of support from her former BHS teachers, she said. Even before she had her baby some of the teachers would forget her name. 

The Independent Study Program operates under the umbrella of BHS and is located on Derby Street. 

Starting at BHS as a freshman, Amber said, “I was too young to handle all the freedom—it got bad,” describing how the high school is so large that its administration can’t account for students who leave campus during the day. Amber began drinking and partying with friends, barely attending classes.  

A nine-month stint at a girls’ boarding school in Mississippi helped her straighten herself out and “fall in love” with journalism and broadcasting, but then the financial aid ended. She returned to the Bay Area only to find herself pregnant while still in her junior year. 

A friend told her about the Independent Study Program, and after meeting with a BHS counselor, Amber was accepted. Being in Independent Study allowed her the flexibility to spend time with her newborn as well as to hold a job at Target to help offset her family’s expenses. However, after a month she realized that juggling a new baby and completing her schoolwork, as well as working at Target was too much. (Now she braids hair several times a week for extra money.)  

“Some things happen for a reason,” said Amber, explaining how giving birth after her accidental pregnancy has fostered her resolve to succeed. But she also spoke of the challenges of being a teen parent and doesn’t recommend it for others. (She said abortion wasn’t an option for her for religious reasons.) 

“I probably wouldn’t be graduating if I’d stayed at the high school,” Amber said. She who plans to attend Contra Costa College before transferring, she hopes, to a four-year college in Florida. Aamari’s father will join them there after he finishes military school. 

Julian Harned, a 15-year-old sophomore, was accepted into the Berkeley Independent Study Program in November, just under the wire. The program currently has a waiting list. 

“It’s liberating because teachers take me more seriously now,” Julian said. His self-confidence and engagement in schoolwork have improved tremendously since he became an Independent Study student, according to this writer, who is also his mother. 

Julian (whose parents live separately) had experienced a taxing summer break that included dealing with his father’s major surgery, an abrupt eviction and going on an undesired vacation with his mother and sister. He had been looking forward to the structure and social opportunities at BHS with renewed anticipation. 

But something happened in late September. Bogged down with an heavy course load and constantly tired, Julian’s grades began to plummet. Bright enough to have earned a nearly perfect score in the Language Arts component of the Star test, his motivation waned until he’d all but abandoned homework. He continued to read avidly about everything from fencing to psychic phenomena, and he worked hard enough in his BHS drama class to earn a major role in the fall play. However, in other classes he complained about the lackadaisical attitudes of certain students, or conversely, felt overwhelmed by the high expectations of teachers who assigned burdensome amounts of seemingly pointless outside work. In most classes his own strengths appeared to go unrecognized by teachers (all with 30-plus students in their classes).  

Concerned, Julian’s parents sought information about the Independent Study program. Sara McMickle, the director, explained the premise of the program, in which weekly teacher meetings are the springboard for working independently to achieve educational success. 

Students in the program are permitted to keep up to two classes at BHS so Julian kept his drama class. He was guided in scheduling Independent Study classes with assignments he had a hand in creating which fulfilled all the requirements for the quarter, and also allowed needed time to focus on the rigorous play preparations. 

His weekly assignments are completed at home, in libraries, or at cafes, and his involvement in his drama class at BHS keeps him socially connected. 

Eighteen year old Joe Herbert, an affable senior, simply wants to learn–as much as he can all at once. 

Joe’s involvement in Independent Study began as a freshman with his enrollment in Spanish. After he had signed up for all the classes he wished to take at the high school, there wasn’t room in his schedule for Spanish. (At the time, 2001/2002, Independent Study students weren’t limited to just two classes at BHS as they are now.) 

As a sophomore and junior, Joe continued to take more classes through Independent Study, and eventually, through persistence, was able to enroll in courses at UC Berkeley as well. Currently he’s taking Spanish and math while still managing to find time to pursue his passions for playing African drums, practicing Capoiera, and dancing samba. 

“The flexibility there [in Independent Study] is something that’s really great,” says Joe, describing how a flu virus in the fall kept him in bed for a week. It was difficult to catch up on his work, he said, except for his Independent Study assignments whose teachers didn’t expect daily class attendance. 

Like Julian and Amber, he appreciates the personal attention he gets from teachers and administrators in Independent Study, which is small enough that students needn’t worry about overworked counselors forgetting to mail transcripts to colleges–as sometimes happens at BHS. 

“Independent Study is too small to be a bureaucracy,” says Joe. 

In late December he learned that he had been accepted at the University of Chicago and was waiting to hear from others. Considering his record, the brown-haired Berkeley resident (whose father, Rick Herbert, is an English teacher in Independent Study) may soon have a tough decision to make. And although he could graduate early, he’s opted to wait until June. Uncertain what his college major will be, but with a desire to “explore the world,” he clearly loves learning for learning’s sake. 

After several decades this writer still remembers painfully an adolescence spent at a large public high school—the pressure to conform and follow rules. Subsequent acceptance at an alternative college (whose philosophy of self-directed learning mirrors that of the Independent Study program) led to vastly increased confidence and sense of purpose.  

For the three profiled here, being in Independent Study has helped instill in them the focus and self assurance for which we all strive. 

This is the second in a series about the Berkeley Independent Study Program. Freelance writer and Berkeley resident Annie Kassof also works as a graphic artist, substitute preschool teacher, and she is a foster parent. Julian Harned is her son. 

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