Articles

“The environment of the school was such a great cross-section of humanity, from kids four years old all the way up to the adult staff. So you really had a lot to reflect on with so many experiences being shared. I grew up faster by having access to… Read more ›

  Chapter 29 - Kingdom of Childhood I don't know if I really understood everything about the school right away, but the thing that I did understand was that I loved it. It was somewhere that I wanted to be. And it stayed that way until it was… Read more ›

Sudbury Valley School: An Idea Whose Time Has Come [SVS Journal, vol. 45, Spring 2016] Contents  Archetype: 1965 - 1990  I. In the Beginning  II. The Shakedown Cruise  III. Swept Up in the Tide—and Almost Drowned!  IV. Who… Read more ›

[Free At Last, Foreword, pp. 9-11] There were no appointments available. By December, everyone who hoped to attend Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, had long since submitted their applications and made arrangements for an admissions… Read more ›

A Clearer View, Chapter 4, pp. 72-91 It may sound like a strange thing to talk about the significance of the democratic model in a school like ours, because the democratic model is so embedded in the school, and has been from day one. In fact,… Read more ›

Sudbury Valley School Journal, Winter 2016 Introduction This essay has been prompted by a feeling of frustration that has finally led me to sit down and face an unpleasant reality: too many people think we are basically an “un-schooling” institution… Read more ›

The Meaning of Play [Chapter 1, A Clearer View, pp. 3-30] Back in 1965, a small group of us started discussing a set of ideas about education and schooling. That was when we began to become self conscious of the fact that rather than just being… Read more ›

Sudbury Valley School Experience, pp. 121-136 For a long time I had the strong conviction that age mixing, which is one of the most obvious features of Sudbury Valley, is among the most important educational components of the school (as well as… Read more ›

The sub-title was carefully chosen to represent the status I think conversation has relative to the entire process of learning and living. This is a retrospective series of talks about what we’ve learned over the thirty years, and I find it rather… Read more ›

Prologue Ever since the school was first conceived, we have been searching for a way to express in clear and concise form its essential philosophy and practice. The search has been far-reaching, and has unearthed a wide range of concepts. Those I… Read more ›

There is a book on my desk: “Wanderlust” . . . . This book is about peripatetics! While reading it, I thought about the two little girls walking side by side, on a road leading to Sudbury [Valley], talking about something very important. Sudbury has… Read more ›

We always felt that Sudbury Valley was the best place to develop each child’s unique potential to the fullest. That was a given for us from day one. The question is, how does this beautiful concept relate to setting up a school? It turns out that,… Read more ›

Nothing disturbs visitors to Sudbury Valley School more than the sight of children of all ages playing freely all day long. The image contradicts every notion people have of what a school should be. Moreover, it seems to offer proof of our culture’… Read more ›

Have you ever noticed the uniqueness of the way that sports are played at SVS? The experience is a beautiful one which brings out most of the noble characteristics which a person can possess. It also illustrates a point about language and the SVS… Read more ›

In a Nutshell What This Essay is Really About… The school was first conceived half a century ago, in the Fall of 1965. In so many ways, it was a different world back then. Talking to young people about life in those days is like relating stories… Read more ›