# Flint School > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Flint_School > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Flint_School.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_School > Source revision: 1314614727 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}} {{No footnotes|date=October 2009}} The '''Flint School''' was a preparatory school founded by educators George and Betty Stoll. Based in [Sarasota](/source/Sarasota), [Florida](/source/Florida), [United States](/source/United_States), it operated aboard first one, then two, [school ship](/source/school_ship)s from 1969 to 1981. Girls as well as boys aged 12 to 18 sailed the world aboard the [steel](/source/steel)-[hulled](/source/Hull_(watercraft)) auxiliary [schooners](/source/schooners) ''Te Vega'' (ex-''[Etak](/source/Schooner_Etak)'', ex-''Vega'', ex–USS ''Juniata'', now ''Deva''), and ''teQuest'' (ex–''[Black Douglas](/source/Schooner_Black_Douglas)'', ex-''Aquarius'', ex–''Aquarius W'', now ''El Boughaz I'') while studying an academic [curriculum](/source/curriculum). The school was one of very few educational institutions of any kind during the period to stress [free-market](/source/free-market) or [libertarian](/source/Libertarianism) thought, making it in some ways akin to [Hillsdale College](/source/Hillsdale_College). In its [pedagogy](/source/pedagogy), the Flint School combined elements from [Alan Villiers](/source/Alan_Villiers)' earlier seaborne program with [Maria Montessori](/source/Maria_Montessori)'s ''Casa dei Bambini''. Although the school was not based on [Objectivist philosophy](/source/Objectivist_philosophy), the Stolls made [Ayn Rand](/source/Ayn_Rand)'s ''[Atlas Shrugged](/source/Atlas_Shrugged)'' the centerpiece of their program. The Stolls also included the work of [Nathaniel Branden](/source/Nathaniel_Branden) even though he had been expelled from Rand's movement some years earlier. Similarly, the Stolls emphasized the importance of the [Austrian School](/source/Austrian_School) of [economics](/source/economics), despite Rand's having characterized [Friedrich Hayek](/source/Friedrich_Hayek) as "an example of our most pernicious enemy." The Stolls' academic program attempted to reconcile [libertarianism and Objectivism](/source/libertarianism_and_Objectivism). George Stoll was regarded as an able [teacher](/source/teacher) with good insights into [human nature](/source/human_nature), especially relating to [adolescence](/source/adolescence). He described his school as a [benign dictatorship](/source/benign_dictatorship), a [management](/source/management) style wholly appropriate to life at [sea](/source/sea). Many students and staff members were drawn to him by dint of his personality, and he was thus able to sustain his [legitimacy](/source/Legitimacy_(political_science)) on the basis of [charismatic authority](/source/charismatic_authority). Others thought that, as the years progressed, Capt. Stoll had allowed a small-scale [personality cult](/source/cult_of_personality) to flourish around him. This was an ironic twist because George Stoll stressed that human beings needed to submit their actions and beliefs to the test of [reason](/source/reason) always. [[File:Mahon 2.jpg|right|thumb|Quayside, [Mahón](/source/Mah%C3%B3n), [Menorca](/source/Menorca), March 1979.]] The school's [sailing](/source/sailing) program was run by the directors' son, Jim. An accomplished yachtsman, Jim Stoll spent the latter 1960s participating in many [blue-water](/source/Maritime_geography) races, crewing aboard famed racing [yacht](/source/yacht)s ''Panacea'', ''Ondine'', and ''Kialoa''. He also was a protégé of master mariner [Irving Johnson](/source/Irving_Johnson), and it is unlikely the Flint School would have been sited aboard two [tall ship](/source/tall_ship)s without that connection. Sailing provided the students with a hands-on [education](/source/education) not only in the nautical arts, but also in [mathematics](/source/mathematics) ([navigation](/source/navigation)) and [physics](/source/physics) ([engine room](/source/engine_room)). The students were not in a [sail training](/source/sail_training) program as meant for [sea cadet](/source/sea_cadet)s contemplating a career with one of the world's navies or merchant fleets. But some of them did manage to attain the requisite skills to crew ''Te Vega'' in the [Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Race](/source/Cutty_Sark_Tall_Ships'_Race)s in 1972 ([Helsinki](/source/Helsinki)–[Falsterbo](/source/Falsterbo) stage) and 1976 ([Bermuda](/source/Bermuda)–[Newport, Rhode Island](/source/Newport%2C_Rhode_Island), stage). All students participated in the daily maintenance of the ships, and in periodic heavy maintenance undertaken when the vessels were in [dry dock](/source/dry_dock). Though chartered and controlled by an American school, the ships flew a [Panamanian](/source/Panamanian) [flag of convenience](/source/flag_of_convenience). In 1976, ''Te Vega'' sailed into [New York Harbor](/source/New_York_Harbor) to take part in [Operation Sail](/source/Operation_Sail), timed to coincide with the [United States Bicentennial](/source/United_States_Bicentennial) celebrations; this was one of the rare occasions when either ship called at a [United States](/source/United_States) [port](/source/port). (''Te Vega'' joined many of the world's tall ships for the Parade of Sail to commemorate the event, and the [Secretary of the Navy](/source/Secretary_of_the_Navy) and the [Commandant of the Coast Guard](/source/Commandant_of_the_Coast_Guard) jointly awarded her third prize in her class in the "Smartest Ship" competition.) The ships were instead based abroad, with favorite adopted home ports being [Copenhagen](/source/Copenhagen), [Amsterdam](/source/Amsterdam), [Pointe-à-Pitre](/source/Pointe-%C3%A0-Pitre), and [La Condamine](/source/La_Condamine) and [Fontvieille, Monaco](/source/Fontvieille%2C_Monaco). Additionally, the ships frequented some of the world's most exclusive [marina](/source/marina)s and anchorages, among them [Puerto José Banús](/source/Puerto_Jos%C3%A9_Ban%C3%BAs), [Porto Cervo](/source/Porto_Cervo), [Portofino](/source/Portofino), [Villefranche-sur-Mer](/source/Villefranche-sur-Mer), and [Gustavia](/source/Gustavia%2C_Saint_Barth%C3%A9lemy) roadstead in [Saint Barthélemy](/source/Saint_Barth%C3%A9lemy). Flint School students bore witness to [history](/source/history). They visited [Jamaica](/source/Jamaica), [Guyana](/source/Guyana), and [Dominica](/source/Dominica) during times of great social strife in those places, and in the [West Indies](/source/West_Indies) generally. They witnessed the [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom)'s [Winter of Discontent](/source/Winter_of_Discontent) and [Spain](/source/Spain)'s [''Tejerazo''](/source/23-F). The schooners were dockside in [Travemünde](/source/Travem%C3%BCnde), [Kiel](/source/Kiel), and [Hamburg](/source/Hamburg) for much of the [''Deutscher Herbst''](/source/German_Autumn), and in many Italian locales during the [''Anni di piombo''](/source/Years_of_Lead_(Italy)). Sailing afforded an opportunity to visit nearly all the major coastal and insular destinations in [Europe](/source/Europe) and the [Caribbean Basin](/source/Caribbean_Basin), many of which were poorly served by air, or were otherwise very remote. Among the more unusual places the ships visited were [Devil's Island](/source/Devil's_Island), [Paramaribo](/source/Paramaribo), [Bonifacio](/source/Bonifacio%2C_Corse-du-Sud), [St. Peter Port](/source/St._Peter_Port), [Rønne](/source/R%C3%B8nne), [Heraklion](/source/Heraklion), [Portoferraio](/source/Portoferraio), [Valletta](/source/Valletta), [Macapá](/source/Macap%C3%A1), [Îles des Saintes](/source/%C3%8Eles_des_Saintes), [Gibraltar](/source/Gibraltar), [Curaçao](/source/Cura%C3%A7ao), [Dakar](/source/Dakar), [Cape Verde](/source/Cape_Verde), [Agadir](/source/Agadir), and [Ponta Delgada](/source/Ponta_Delgada). Students were able to reach the great [cultural](/source/cultural) attractions of Europe by [train](/source/train) and [bus](/source/bus), with a ten-day continental tour during the spring. The Flint School's travels also provided the directors with a way to show how people put ideas and values into practice. A visit to the [Normandy invasion](/source/Normandy_invasion) beaches taught that the price of freedom is sometimes paid in blood. A visit to the [East German](/source/East_German) border at the [Priwall Peninsula](/source/Priwall_Peninsula) gave a glimpse of what a society can look like when freedom is usurped. But perhaps the most pointed examples were visits – on the same day – to the [Deutsches Museum](/source/Deutsches_Museum) and the [Dachau concentration camp](/source/Dachau_concentration_camp). They are a mere 20 kilometers apart. ==External links== {{portal|Schools}} *[http://www.flintschool.com Flint School alumni site] *[http://will.trillich.com/flint Alumnus Will Trillich's site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060715185132/http://will.trillich.com/flint/ |date=July 15, 2006 }} *[http://www.flintschool.net Alumnus Palmer Stevens' site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060511105311/http://www.enterpriseintegrators.com/flint/ |date=2006-05-11 }} *[http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070713/NEWS/707130476/1270/NEWS0101 George Stoll's life remembered in the ''Sarasota Herald-Tribune''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929145757/http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070713/NEWS/707130476/1270/NEWS0101 |date=2007-09-29 }} *[http://www.seamester.com Sea{{pipe}}mester, Jim Stoll's study-abroad programs for college students] *[http://www.actionquest.com ActionQuest Sailing Adventure Programs, Jim Stoll's sailing program for teenagers] *[http://www.lifeworks-international.com Lifeworks Community Service Summer Program for Teens, Jim Stoll's service-learning program for teenagers] Category:Boarding schools in Florida Category:Educational institutions established in 1969 Category:Defunct schools in Florida Category:1969 establishments in Florida Category:1981 disestablishments in Florida Category:Educational institutions disestablished in 1981 Category:International schools in Florida --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Flint School](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_School) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_School?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.