High School Controversial Speeches

The 11th grade “Controversial Speech” is a capstone project in our High School. Students are tasked with studying rhetoric, analyzing historical speeches, drafting persuasive arguments, and researching opposing material. The culmination of their efforts is to take a definitive stance on a controversial topic (which may differ from their own view on the matter) and present their speech to a community of peers. 

At the end of each speech there is an opportunity for the audience to ask questions, often calling on students to demonstrate the wealth of knowledge they accrued in the process of researching their topics. They discuss the difference between debates and discussions, how with the former the focus is on winning the argument, while with the latter the emphasis is on winning over the audience. 

The richness of the Controversial Speech capstone project lies partly in allowing each student to find a topic that deeply resonates with them. Some students pursue their passions, while others look to produce the “most” controversial topic they can find, encouraging and savoring the potential pushback they will receive from their peers in the audience.

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Peace Week 2025

Peace Week 2025

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Peace Week invites our students and staff to explore the notion of peace in their own lives and in our shared world.
Krishnamurti with students

First Day of School 1975

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David Moody reflects on first day of Oak Grove School, September 15, 1975 at 8:30, on the upper portion of the back lawn at Arya Vihara, in the east end of the Ojai Valley.
The Art of Living and Learning

The Art of Living & Learning

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This year, as we mark our 50th, we chose the theme The Art of Living and Learning. Krishnamurti said that true learning begins with direct observation of “what is,” free from judgment or distortion – a clear attention unclouded by fear, comparison, or the pressure to become.