If I had to choose one topic to place at the very core of every child's educational experience, I would have no trouble identifying it: how to deal with failure. Yet this is a subject carefully avoided in traditional mainstream schools. On the… Read more ›
Blog
Monday, August 28, 2023
One of the prevalent myths about the evil wrought upon today’s young generation by “screen time” is that computers discourage their users from social interactions. The claim is that when people use computers, they cut themselves off from direct… Read more ›
Monday, August 14, 2023
We have a lot to muse about as we struggle to make ourselves comfortable in a world that seems to be mainly for people whose brains are more advanced than ours.
Who is we? Well, it is my generation, for sure. It is in no sense today's generation,… Read more ›
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Would you actually turn back the hands of time and be a kid again if you had the ‘sus’ power to shape shift or time travel? Or would you want to just simply go back to the ‘kid’ version of who you have become and re-live it, feel it all again, one… Read more ›
Tuesday, July 11, 2023
The phrase “self-directed learning” is used in education circles all over the Internet, and it is often applied to Sudbury Valley. But the term is misleading, and is misapplied. Sudbury Valley has nothing to do with self-directed learning.
In the… Read more ›
Thursday, January 12, 2023
This question has clearly been answered by our society with a resounding “YES”. It is an accepted notion that all children should learn at the same pace, and stringent measures are taken to ensure that this is the case and that there be “no child… Read more ›
Monday, December 12, 2022
A broken leg is no fun. However, since at SVS almost any new situation can become a window into what is going on in the minds of the kids, my broken leg led to many unexpected insights for me.
My mobility was seriously curtailed by my inability to… Read more ›
Tuesday, November 29, 2022
Whenever we have an Open House at Sudbury Valley School we often get the same question, “What do the kids do all day?” Underneath this question is a broader one, “Can you prove to me that this place works?” On the spot, the short answer is, “No.”… Read more ›
Thursday, November 10, 2022
I have been extremely puzzled for some time that our society seems to be eagerly pursuing mutually inconsistent goals, almost as if we are unaware that in so doing, we are trying to go in opposite directions at the same time!
Let me give you some… Read more ›
Thursday, October 13, 2022
As they decide whether or not to send their children here, or as they fret about their children while they are enrolled here, there are a whole series of concerns parents talk about and worry about that are related to what looks like the random way… Read more ›
Tuesday, May 24, 2022
“The two most important days in your life are the day you’re born, and the day you find out why.” Mark Twain
Mimsy: Happiness is a really complicated word. To most people, it just means being giddy. Actually, it has nothing to do with being giddy… Read more ›
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Our family recently moved to Framingham to be closer to SVS, and during my long hours of packing I found a large plastic bin filled with my son Gavinʼs elementary school papers. These were papers from kindergarten through the middle of 5th grade,… Read more ›
Monday, May 2, 2022
Eli Katzoff talks about his experience as a Sudbury Valley student and how his time at Sudbury Valley School prepared him for life.
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
There is a myth out there, a false idea called the “real world”. “It’s not like that in the real world.” “When you get out there in the real world, you’ll see.” The idea fed to children and students is that they must do unpleasant things to prepare… Read more ›
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
As I write, I am looking outside at the beautiful campus in the morning sun. Children of all ages are all over – running, playing, calling each other, romping. Inside, voices can be heard from the adjacent rooms – and sometimes floating up from… Read more ›