Blog

Mimsy took the following photograph at school recently: She gave the photo the title "Men at Work". At first sight, the title seems whimsical, though the photo itself is a perfect gem. I couldn’t stop thinking: is there more than whimsy to… Read more ›

Is the grand edifice of education built on a foundation of quicksand? Here is a list of the false beliefs at the core of prevailing educational practices: 1. “If you teach, they will learn”     If schools want a particular person to… Read more ›

I confess that I wasn't thinking about happiness in 1968, when my husband and I decided to send our children to the almost-open Sudbury Valley School. We had unfortunately noticed that public school seemed to cause our little son to feel something… Read more ›

How can every person be above average? It sounds impossible, but it is a given in the community at Sudbury Valley. Living life with a measuring stick, watching to be certain that you are doing OK by others’ standards, and getting a thumbs up that… Read more ›

Take One by Daniel Greenberg If you happen to be sitting in the large front room called “the sewing room", you might notice that every day at 11:00 a.m., eight people walk into the adjacent book-lined “seminar room". What you are seeing… Read more ›

Hanna: People who hear about the school often say: so everybody will just work on what’s easy for them. And my answer to them is: “Well, what’s wrong with that?” However, my observation is that it’s not true, that a lot of the kids work on whatever… Read more ›

"Where do you work?" "At Sudbury Valley School." "What do you do?" "Nothing." Doing nothing at Sudbury Valley requires a great deal of energy and discipline, and many years of experience. I get better at it every year, and it amuses me to see how I… Read more ›

I am writing this on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Neue Schule Hamburg, to offer congratulations and a tiny bit of retrospection. I work at Sudbury Valley School, in the United States, and we are celebrating our 50th anniversary this year… Read more ›

Somewhat to my surprise, I have recently gained a new insight into a key element of what goes on here, in an area that I thought had been thoroughly analyzed from ever-so-many angles from the very first days of the school’s founding. It came… Read more ›

Everybody sees that the notion that kids have to go to a building--to a school--and have to be taught stuff in person by a teacher who talks at them, has been flushed down the toilet.

People often ask if there is a problem with bullying at Sudbury Valley School given that all these kids of all different ages are mixed together in a seemingly haphazard and unordered way. I tell them that bullying is quite rare; to which they… Read more ›

What is the justification for trying to guide children and tell them what they need to be successful adults? Does anyone have a right to interfere with their process of finding out who they are and what their purpose in life is?

This is a confession: It took me many, many years to learn how not to pounce and use what are called "teaching moments" at home with my own children and here at school. Like most people, I like to tell stories, to talk about things that I know and… Read more ›

I. The question I pose in the title may seem outrageous: of course someone cares! Everyone cares, don’t they? When media outlets feature a story that is explicitly about some instance of child abuse, outrage is expressed on all sides. And certainly… Read more ›

  Matt Wolf and Daniel Greenberg discuss pursuing interests and passions at Sudbury Valley. How do students find out what interests them in the first place? Are they missing out on important subjects by focusing on what they're interested in,… Read more ›