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 ›
I’ve been going through the material in SVS’ School Planning Kit and it has led me into a process that I did not expect. During many phases of my life thus far, I've experienced moments of revelation about myself and the world around me. Having… 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 ›
The following is a transcript from an alumni event: Mimsy Sadofsky, moderator, opened the event.Featuring alumni: Nikole Beckwith, Mark Christianson, Jeannine Bouffard Moore, Greg Richard, and Hal Sadofsky We are going to visit tonight with… Read more ›
The View from Inside  When you're in a situation where you can do anything you want with your day, the fact is that most of what people do involves talking. I'd say the number one activity that everybody participates in is talking. Why are they… Read more ›