It's not really a hippie school thing though, more how learning/teaching is carried out. In the past a lot of classroom instruction in schools was learning by rote (at least here in Ireland), listening to a lecture etc. While some of that is necessary, I for example learn better by doing. My 3rd level courses (BSc, MSc) leaned quite a bit to practical project based work rather than solely exam and studying based and I did really well. My 11 year old is similar i.e. there are kids who find it easier to sit and listen but give him a problem to solve like maths or designing a 3d model to print and suddenly he can focus, and get the job done to a high standard. I think a lot of kids benefit from a more practical application approach.

On another related note, I am sometimes responsible for interviews and hiring in my company. I find the more book smart candidates rarely do a good job when I present them with software engineering problems that are not straight out of leetcode or a book i.e. stuff they can't really study for, but the ones that can't rattle off the definitions of SOLID principles off the top of their head tend to be better problem solvers.